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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28501290">I am Ryoko || L Lawliet x Kira!OC</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phantom_Kira/pseuds/Phantom_Kira'>Phantom_Kira</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Death Note (Anime &amp; Manga)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Angst, Drama &amp; Romance, F/M, Japan, L x oc - Freeform, Manga &amp; Anime, Matsuda Touta Is An Idiot, Murder Mystery, Mystery, OC Kira, Original Character(s), Romance, Romantic Fluff, Wammy's House (Death Note), nah we love you Matsuda</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-05-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 18:00:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>61,366</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28501290</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phantom_Kira/pseuds/Phantom_Kira</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>At first mistaken for a cosplay accessory, a girl found a red notebook stuck in the cherry tree of her garden. What kind of consequences will it have in her life? </p><p> </p><p>|| DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN DEATH NOTE AND ITS WONDERFUL CHARACTERS (except for the OC and other characters, they are mine). ||</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>L Lawliet/OC, Touta Matsuda&amp;OC</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>71</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>35</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. From the beginning</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I'm so fixated with Death Note that I needed to write something about it. Please, enjoy my (first) love story and forgive me for my English, it's not my mother tongue.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>«<em>Koike-san, please translate the sentence I've read just now</em>»</p><p>«<em>Yes, sir</em>» the girl stood up from her seat and translated it in English. It was a book about English Literature and that was the last lesson before lunch time.</p><p>The teacher thanked her for her excellent translation and Ryoko sat down again. The lesson continued without other interruptions and the teacher assigned a long translation for the next week.</p><p>Ryoko fixed her long hair and took a look at herself through her pocket-sized mirror: straight long black hair, pale skin, two brown eyes and white uniform with a big red bow on the chest. Ryoko Koike was one of the smartest student in her school (the third in the entire institute): excellent marks in each subject, good athletic skills and she could sing splendidly.</p><p>Her life was pretty normal: in the morning she would go to school, in the afternoon she would take part at different projects and clubs and at night she would do her homework. Sometimes she and her best friend would go shopping but it was rare: Ryoko didn’t like much crowded places and she was pretty awkward in public. She also sang and played many sports: tennis, volleyball, cricket and baseball. Despite she did many social activities, she had a very poor social life: her shyness and her natural distant / cold attitude towards the others stopped her in everything. In other words, despite her grades, Ryoko was not popular at school.</p><p>She took her bento from her bag: it was a pink box with a pair of red chopsticks. She could smell the delicious scent of her lunch.</p><p>«<em>Oi Ryoko-chan!</em>» a cheerful girl with the same uniform as Ryoko approached her.</p><p>«<em>Hi Eriko-chan</em>∼» Ryoko smiled. There she was, Eriko Kimura: Ryoko's best friend with long deep brown hair usually fixed in two ponytails and black eyes. Eriko was so cheerful compared to Ryoko: she loved talking about many different things while Ryoko preferred reading in silence; Eriko adored doing shopping and hanging out with other friends of hers while Ryoko stood at home alone all the time. Maybe it was because of this that the two girls got along <strong>from the beginning. </strong></p><p>The two girls ate together their lunch from their bentos and gossiped. Eriko was a huge fan of Misa Amane and she was going crazy because she read in a magazine that Misa would organise a runaway show there at Yokohama. Eriko tried to convince Ryoko to come with her at the event but the black haired girl was not fond of crowded places. Eventually Eriko had an entire month to try to convince her anyway.</p><p>After many other lessons their day at school finished and Ryoko was ready to come back home with Eriko (as always). During their walk they ended up talking about Kira and how Eriko felt safer in the streets after their appearance. Ah, Kira: a hero for someone and a mass killer for others, it was a figure who had already changed the history of the world. Recently a transmission from a guy who said to be the famous detective L messed up the broadcasts but he died right after his speech live recording. Everyone thought that Kira really killed L (and that he was not-so-great by showing up his face) but it was a trap from the real L! A white screen with a giant black letter "L" spoke with a strange voice provoking Kira to kill him.</p><p>«<em>What do you think about Kira?</em>» Eriko asked interrupting Ryoko's thoughts.</p><p>«<em>I don't know. Sure, killing is a crime…but he kills criminals who are already sentenced to death</em>, <em>so</em>…» Ryoko hadn’t a true opinion about Kira: he was a grey character to her.</p><p>«<em>I support him…L is just jealous because Kira succeeded in bringing justice among us</em>» replied Eriko with a pout.</p><p>Eriko's house was the first in their road, Ryoko's one was not much far. Not only they were best friends but they were neighbours too.</p><p>«<em>See you tomorrow Ryoko-chan! Bye</em>∼» and Eriko quickly entered her home very fast. Ryoko smiled at her and went back as well.</p><p>Once at home, she removed her shoes and coat. «<em>Mum! Dad! Kazuo! I'm home!</em>» she stepped in the kitchen where she found her mother.</p><p>«<em>Welcome back dear, have you had a nice day at school?</em>» she asked kissing her forehead.</p><p>«<em>Yes, the usual</em>». Ryoko took a box of candies from the counter.</p><p>«<em>Look who's back∼ My tiny little sister</em>» a tall boy with dark brown hair and eyes ruffled her hair.</p><p>«<em>Kazuo! Not the hair!</em>» she protested and fixed her precious black mane. Kazuo Koike, an 18 years old student of the same school as her, he was Ryoko's old brother. If she was the third smartest student in her school, Kazuo was the second one. She didn’t really mind about her position in a rank but apparently her parents did. He was going to start university soon and Mr. and Ms. Koike expected Ryoko to follow Kazuo's path as well, meaning she had to have excellent marks at school.</p><p>«<em>Kazuo, do not bother your sister</em>» their mother started. «<em>Ryoko, dear, dinner will be ready in 30 minutes.</em>»</p><p>«<em>Don’t worry mum. I'll take a shower in the meantime</em>» Ryoko ate few sweets and stored them in the shelf. She rushed into her room closing the door behind her; she sighed loud and put her bag on the chair of her desk, then she opened a drawer searching for a comfy pjs.</p><p>The shower lasted at least 20 minutes because Ryoko was very stressed those days: all she could think about was what happened just three days before.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ FLASHBACK ♰</strong>
</p><p>Ryoko had the bird house in her lap, trying to fixing it. A strong wind broke the pole and the bird house fell on the ground. Now the ceiling was broken and the pole must be replaced.</p><p>Ryoko was focused on the bird house when she heard a sound coming from the cherry tree they had in the garden. It was as if something got stuck in the foliage. The girl narrowed her eyes and she saw something in the branches actually: something thin and red.</p><p>«<em>What? Is that a notebook?</em>»  she put down the bird house and climbed up the tree as she did when she was little. It was a notebook indeed! Why was there a notebook stuck between the branches? Maybe the wind that broke the bird house had carried it there.</p><p>«<em>Whose is this?</em>» she climbed down from the tree and observed the cover. <strong>Death Note</strong>. What the hell? Are you serious? «<em>Really? Tsk!</em>» she continued fixing the bird house and hours later she went back inside towards her bedroom.</p><p>She locked the door and put the notebook on her desk without thinking much about it and started doing her homework. After solving two math problems she took a look at the red notebook and studied it: red smooth cover and white pages, metallic support at each corner and geometrical drawings, it looked like a common notebook. Ryoko found a list of…rules? Rules for what?</p><ul>
<li><strong>The human whose name is written in this note shall die</strong></li>
</ul><p>«<em>Yeah and I'm Shokotan</em>…» she continued reading. (A/N: Shoko Nakagawa is a Japanese tarento (media personality), actress, voice actress, illustrator, and singer. Also known by her nickname Shokotan).</p><ul>
<li><strong>This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected</strong></li>
</ul><p>Ryoko raised an eyebrow. «<em>This must be a part for a cosplay for sure…it's well done though</em>» she said to herself before continuing to do her homework.</p><p>
  <strong>♰ END OF FLASHBACK ♰</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>A large doubt grew inside Ryoko's head: what if it's not an accessory for a cosplay? What if the book said the truth?</p><p>Ryoko took her shower and had dinner with her family: Kazuo talked about his new university and how he couldn’t wait to start the lessons; her father discussed about his job (he was an estate agent); and her mother chatted about the neighbour. After the dinner Ryoko went back in her bedroom and finished the homework; at 10pm she went to bed tired and a bit worried about the red notebook in her desk.</p><p>But during the night she tossed and turned, her sleep was anguished. In the middle of the night she felt something poking her cheek: it was cold and sharp like a thorn. She woke up, the sight clouded by the sleepiness. She rubbed her eyes now fully focused on her bedroom; in front of her a strange creature floated in the air: a high humanoid figure with slim arms and legs, a sort of jacket with fake fur surrounded its "neck" and cuffs, its head was replaced by a skull with a pair of goggles in its forehead. It was kneeled in front of her as if it had no weight.</p><p>«<em>That's what sleeping looks like</em>…» it spoke with a raspy, low voice. Ryoko turned pale in less than a second and was going to open her mouth and scream but the gloved and skeletal hand of that creature prevented her to yell.</p><p>«<em>Now, there's no need to be scared…am I that ugly?</em>» it spoke again not leaving the hand from Ryoko's mouth. «<em>If you promise not to scream I'll remove my hand. Deal?</em>» Ryoko nodded frenetically.</p><p>The creature removed the hand while Ryoko looked at it with disbelief and fear. «<em>W-Who a-re…you?</em>» she managed to ask in a whisper.</p><p>«<em>Me? Oh, I'm just a poor Shinigami who lost his Death Note</em>»</p><p>«<em>D-Death No-Note? It's real then!</em>» she whispered-yelled at him.</p><p>«<em>Of course it is. Someone I know did the same…throwing his Death Note on Earth and watching the consequences. But I couldn’t wait so here I am</em>.» he replied slowly as if he was telling a long, intense story to a kid. «<em>I'm Gynos, God of Death</em>.»</p><p>Ryoko didn’t know what to say, she was too scared to reply. She tried to regain her self-composure by massaging her temples; after few minutes she calmed down and looked again at the Shinigami.</p><p>«<em>Your notebook is on my desk. You can take it if you want</em>»</p><p>«<em>Did you read the rules?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Only the first page</em>…»</p><p>Gynos stood up from his kneeling position, Ryoko noticed he touched the ceiling with his goggles. He flew closer to the desk and took the red notebook. «<em>Read the second page</em>»</p><p>Ryoko moved the sheets, climbed down from her bunk bed and took the Death Note from his slim hands flipping the pages to read the rules.</p><ul>
<li><strong>The note shall become the property of the human world, once it touches the ground of the human world.</strong></li>
<li><strong>The owner of the note can recognize the image and voice of the original owner, i.e. a god of death</strong></li>
<li><strong>The human who uses the notebook can neither go to Heaven nor Hell</strong></li>
</ul><p> </p><p>Ryoko couldn’t believe it: she was the new owner of that book according to the rules. «<em>I'm…the new owner</em>…» she whispered.</p><p>«<em>Indeed. It means I have to follow you until you die</em>»</p><p>«<em>W-What? B-But how can I explain you to my family?</em>» Ryoko asked concerned.</p><p>«<em>Don't worry, only you can see me…you and who touches your Death Note</em>»</p><p>«<em>Crap</em>…»</p><p> </p><p>·················•·················•</p><p>«<em>Uh...Ryoko-chan, are you sure you're alright? You’re stuck with that face from a week</em>…»</p><p>«<em>Eh? Oh, yes don't worry Eriko-chan…I'm just studying too much</em>»</p><p>«<em>Again? You have to take care of yourself too!</em>»</p><p>«<em>I know, sorry</em>…»</p><p>It was a week since Ryoko received the Death Note. It was a week since she was followed by Gynos everywhere she went. It was a week since she started to kill. As Kira did. Initially Ryoko was in panic for having a weapon like the Death Note in her hands, but after this moment of uncertainty she became more confident about that whole situation: she would use the Death Note for good purposes like equality. She wasn’t afraid of anything and anybody.</p><p>At first, she went easy: from a person the first day to dozens of people. It was as if she was possessed from a strange inhuman force.</p><p>«<em>Promise me you'll do something about it!</em>» Eriko yelled in the middle of the school's courtyard catching the attention of everyone.</p><p>«<em>Yes yes I promise! Please Eriko-chan, keep quiet</em>…» Ryoko didn’t like crowded place nor loud people but Eriko was an exception.</p><p>«<em>Oh sorry</em>…» she replied in pure embarrassment.</p><p>Ryoko kept talking to her, Gynos was right behind the black haired girl. During the past seven days, he thought a lot about Ryuk and how Gynos mocked him because of his choice to throw the Death Note on Earth. He was reassessing everything: it was funny indeed.</p><p>In the meantime, Eriko excused herself and ran towards a group of teachers. Ryoko stood there alone so she decided to put a pair of earphones pretending to talk at the phone.</p><p>«<em>I have to admit, human…your world is pretty funny</em>» said Gynos half-laughing.</p><p>«<em>I know…and it's only your first week here</em>» Ryoko replied with a grin, then she took a book from her bag and started to draw.</p><p>«<em>I mean, you don't kill as much as Kira but…it is still funny, eh!</em>»</p><p>Ryoko grinned widely and looked at Eriko who was still talking at the teachers. Her conversation with Gynos was interrupted by the bell meaning another lesson was starting. Ryoko pretended to say goodbye to whoever was at the phone and took off the earphones; then she entered the building followed close by Gynos.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ TIME SKIP ♰</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>The sky was clouded and Ryoko said goodbye to Eriko and walked back home. Her house was only twenty minutes away from Eriko's place and this was a good chance for Ryoko to think about her current situation.</p><p>«<em>I don’t want to interrupt your pleasing walk but I have to tell you something, Ryoko</em>…»</p><p>«<em>Hm?</em>» she whispered to him.</p><p>«<em>You know, I don’t really matter if people look in my direction…but someone is staring at you not far from here</em>∼» Gynos said laughing softly with his low voice.</p><p>Ryoko stopped in the middle of the road, pale. She grasped her bag tightly looking straight in front of her.</p><p>«<em>They are two, inside a car on the other side of the road</em>» Gynos spoke again.</p><p>Could it be possible? The police already knew about her? How?! She was so cautious in choosing her victims: not too famous nor too unknown, people truly corrupted or guilty of something. She didn’t kill innocents, she was sure. So how could it be possible that the police (or L) already reached her?</p><p>Ryoko took her time to let this info sink in and shook the head continuing her walk. «<em>I'm home!</em>» she yelled once she opened the front door of her house.</p><p>«<em>Oi Ikki</em>!» her brother Kazuo yelled from the living room and he rushed towards her. «<em>I have to ask you something!</em>»</p><p>«<em>Kazuo gee…calm down, what is it?</em>» he truly scared her with his sudden appearance.</p><p>«<em>Last week I did my admission test to the To-Oh University</em>…»</p><p>«<em>And?! Did you pass?!</em>» she asked excited.</p><p>«<em>Yeah! Of course top 3</em>∼»</p><p>«<em>Kazuo! This is fantastic! We have to celebrate!</em>» she hugged him and jumped happily.</p><p>«<em>I know, I know. But remember, I wanted to ask you something</em>.»</p><p>«<em>Uh? What is it?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Want you to help me with the welcome speech for the entrance ceremony?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Of course I want, Kazuo!</em>»</p><p> </p><p>·················•·················•</p><p>The three speeches were wonderful and full of confidence and determination for the future students. That's what Ryoko thought when she managed to sneak in (thanks to Kazuo) to hear them. She sat among older students in the seats next to the doors, Gynos right beside her hidden in the shadows.</p><p>She noticed her brother, who turned to wave at her (and she waved back), another guy with light brown hair and another boy with white shirt, a pair of jeans and messy black hair. He was sitting rather oddly in his chair: he was…crouching with both of his feet on the chair instead of sitting? Odd indeed.</p><p>«<em>Ehi Ryoko…not to ruin this rather happy moment for you</em>…»</p><p>«<em>Mh?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Did you remember when I mentioned to you Ryuk, the other Shinigami?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Mh</em>…»</p><p>«<em>He is here</em>∼»</p><p>Ryoko gulped: this meant that someone in that room had a Death Note. She searched frenetically a possible candidate in the public but nobody convinced her. Suddenly she felt a pair of eyes on her; she looked down at the first row of seats (where Kazuo was sitting) and she spotted that weird guy again, the one crouched in the chair. He was looking straight at her, his dull, deep black eyes were observing her movements.</p><p>"That's creepy…" she thought.</p><p>A sudden applause broke the atmosphere and Ryoko looked away from that guy, unaware of his gaze still on her.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Like the idol?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>«<em>Kazuo-kun, your speech was really good!</em>»</p><p>«<em>Yeah! I bet you'll choose a Law degree or something about Politics!</em>»</p><p>«<em>Eheh thanks guys but I was helped for that</em>…»</p><p>Ryoko saw her brother talking with other guys (maybe other freshmen) and he was acting so shy and embarrassed all of a sudden. It was so strange seeing him like that, he usually was so brave and smug. The black haired girl smiled at him and chuckled. "What an idiot…" she thought.</p><p>Ryoko was holding a box with a cake inside, the prize for Kazuo and his admission to the To-Oh University. She saw Gynos' shadow on her meaning he was on the roof of the building watching her from up there.</p><p>Suddenly she turned towards the main gate of the University and saw a long, shining black British car with an old man waiting outside. Few minutes later she saw the light brunette boy and the guy with a strange way of sitting: this boy had a strange posture too, his back was curved onward and had deep dark circles under his eyes. He said something to the other guy and got in the car but before that he glared at her one more time.</p><p>"Who is that guy anyway?" she thought watching the black car driving away.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ TIME SKIP ♰</strong>
</p><p>«<em>Ikki! Come, look!</em>»</p><p>Once again Ryoko was at the To-Oh University but this time she was a proponent of her school. She and few other selected students where there to do bureaucratic matters.</p><p>Kazuo and his friends were at the tennis fields there in the campus watching an intense match between somebody (Ryoko couldn’t see from where she was). When she heard her brother call her she came closer.</p><p>«<em>What is it Kazuo? What's happening?</em>»</p><p>«<em>It's like watching Wimbledon! Come!</em>» he called her again and she came beside him. She felt a bit uncomfortable not only because she was the only one wearing a formal suit, but also because there were many people around her.</p><p>«<em>Oh!</em>» that was true, two skilled boys were playing at tennis.  But wait…those were the same boys from the entrance ceremony! Ryoko recognised the strange boy who sat in an oddly way that day.</p><p>She was so focused in watching the match that she didn’t realise that Gynos was talking with someone.</p><p>«<em>Ryuk, there you are!</em>»</p><p>«<em>Gynos? What are doing here-Ahh∼ I see</em>…» the other Shinigami had extremely slim and has light-grey skin, almost bluish in colour, with spiky black hair; thin, blue-grey lips and sharp, pointed teeth but Ryoko couldn’t see him. «<em>You too uh?</em>»</p><p>«<em>I was curious…like you</em>»</p><p>«<em>I wasn’t curious…I was bored</em>»</p><p>Ryoko used all her forces not to appear terrified about that conversation. She tried her best to stay focused on the match pretending not to hear Gynos random phrases. The boy with light brown hair got distracted too and looked at where Ryuk should be and he crossed Ryoko's gaze. They kept staring at each other for other few seconds where the yellow ball shot in front of the boy's eyes, distracting him again.</p><p>«<em>Tiebreak!</em>» yelled the referee. <strong>(A/N: Tiebreak=<span class="ILfuVd"><span class="hgKElc">if the score gets to 6-6)</span></span></strong></p><p>Ryoko observed the yellow ball rolling towards her in the red field, the metallic fence blocked the ball to roll farther. The boy with dark circles under his eyes glared at her intensely, then he watched the boy on the other side of the field.</p><p>«<em>Did you see Ikki? That's so cool!</em>» Kazuo yelled at her side.  </p><p>«<em>Yeah, the Backhand of that guy is good.</em> <em>Who are they?</em>» <strong>(A/N: Backhand=<span class="ILfuVd rjOVwe"><span class="hgKElc">the racket travels across the player's body, striking the ball with the palm facing towards the chest and the back of hand moving towards the opponent on the follow through)</span></span></strong></p><p>«<em>The anaemic one is Hideki Ryuga, the other one is Light Yagami</em>» replied one of Kazuo's friend.</p><p>«<em>Those two had the same score at the admission test, I remember!</em>» Kazuo pointed out. </p><p>«<em>Really?</em>» asked Ryoko looking at Hideki. Strange, she heard that name somewhere.</p><p>She checked her phone and saw the time: she was going to be late! She excused herself to Kazuo and his friends and left the tennis field, followed by Gynos.</p><p>She had to meet other proponents of the University and organise meetings for her school. This lasted the entire morning and at end of she was really tired. Luckily, she was with Eriko and she was always happy to cheer her up, especially that day.</p><p>«<em>Ryoko-chan, I saw a cute cafeteria not far from here…want to come?</em>» she proposed. Ryoko nodded and followed Eriko who chatted rather loudly about the beauty of Misa Amane for the entire time.</p><p>Ryoko ordered a cup of tea and a slice of cake, Eriko wanted a milkshake. A gentle waiter served them and the two girls chatted about various things. After a while Light Yagami and that Hideki Ryuga entered the same cafeteria!</p><p>"I can't believe it…" Ryoko was internally panicking but outside she was smiling and laughing with Eriko. She saw Yagami and Hideki sitting in a table a bit far from them so she couldn’t listen to them. In that moment an idea popped out: she took her book (the one she always used to draw) and pretended to draw Eriko. The truth is that she was writing a message for Gynos:</p><p>
  <em>Could you go there and spy on them for me, please?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Gynos did a strange sound then added: «<em>I'm neutral in this story, girl</em>»</p><p>Then Ryoko underlined the word "please" few times. Gynos stood there thinking for few seconds then sighed. He flied over the table where Yagami and Hideki were talking paying extra attention not to be seen by Ryuk.</p><p>«<em>That is incorrect</em>»</p><p>«<em>Uh?</em>»</p><p>«<em>The thing is there were actually four photographs. When we add this one it reads " <span class="u">L / do you know / gods of death love apples / have red hands? </span>"</em>»</p><p>From the silence Gynos heard, Yagami was deep in thought and so was Hideki. They are talking about some "photos" but Gynos could not see anything from his position. Eventually, Yagami replied.</p><p>«<em>But since I only have three photographs to work with, my deduction was perfect</em>»</p><p>«<em>No, it wasn't. The truth is there were four them, if you'd figured that out it would have been perfect. Even though you knew the message was incomplete you decided that there were three notes and you never considered that there might be a fourth one…what do you make off that?</em>»</p><p>Than Gynos didn’t hear anything again, the Yagami boy was thinking again. That conversation was pretty boring so he came back to Ryoko.</p><p>«<em>They are talking about Kira…and some photos they had with hidden messages</em>…» Gynos said to Ryoko who was actually drawing Eriko in that moment.</p><p>She was still deep in thought when the Yagami boy and Hideki rushed out of the cafeteria so suddenly.</p><p> </p><p>·················•·················•</p><p>At the hotel, the place was calm. It was 2 in the morning, the sky was black yet cloudy and all the lights were turned off. Hideki was "sitting" in his chair illuminated only by the bright screens of his computer. His new suspect, Light Yagami, has a high percentage meaning he was almost sure about his guilty of being Kira. However, he needed solid evidences and he didn’t have any in that moment.</p><p>But Light was not his only suspect. He noticed a strange series of deaths located at Yokohama, in Kanto. There were not eye-catching like the deaths of the first Kira but more than 20 people died in a similar way as the first Kira did.</p><p>Hideki took a bite of his strawberry cake and pressed a button of his keyboard. «<em>Watari</em>…»</p><p>On the screen appeared a white image with a big "W" written in black. «<em>Yes?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Have we got any news from the agents at Yokohama?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Nothing important. According to them everything is alright</em>»</p><p>«<em>Mh</em>…» Hideki nodded and the screen turned off, Watari ended the call. «<em>I have to visit her as well</em>…»</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ TIME SKIP ♰</strong>
</p><p>The day ended, finally. Ryoko was so stressed due to her projects and clubs, she was at school from that morning. She put all her things in her bag and left her classroom; she looked outside, the sky was grey and she didn’t have an umbrella with her.</p><p>«<em>I guess I have to be fast</em>…»</p><p>She was going to passing through the main gates of the school when it started raining. Pretty hard indeed. But Ryoko didn’t feel the cold rain on her. She turned and behind her she saw an old man wearing a formal black suit. Was he a sort of butler or driver?</p><p>«<em>Excuse me Miss, I saw you were without an umbrella and I thought you would need one</em>» the old man had a kind smile on his face and he extended his arm that grasped the umbrella.</p><p>Ryoko was suspicious and surprised at the same time. She remembered that man, he was with Hideki at the University. Thus, he must be inside the car.</p><p>«<em>Thank you….sir</em>» she thanked him and took the black umbrella, her gaze moved rapidly to look at the car.</p><p>Immediately after that, the old man took another umbrella from inside his coat and went near the back seats of the black vehicle; he opened the car door and the pale boy climbed down: very slim, tall young man with messy black hair and dark eyes with a shadow below each of them; he was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a long-sleeved white shirt as Ryoko always saw. He was standing next to the old man all slouched.</p><p>«<em>I guess I have to thank you too, sir, for this umbrella</em>.» Ryoko did a faint bow to him. When she looked at him again she noticed he was staring at her with his dull black eyes.</p><p>«<em>Don’t mention it, Miss. I saw you many times at the To-Oh University</em>…» his voice was quite low, deep yet monotone and emotionless. His voice as for his eyes instilled a sense of respect and awe.</p><p>«<em>Yeah, I saw you too at the entrance ceremony. Good score, anyway</em>» Ryoko didn’t know what to say or how to react: she knew he was studying her movements and body language somehow yet she was unsure to what to do.</p><p>«<em>Thank you. Oh, where are my manners…I'm Hideki Ryuga</em>»</p><p><strong>«<em>Uh? Like the idol?</em>» </strong>she asked in disbelief.</p><p>«<em>Yes</em>» he replied scratching the back of his head.</p><p>"Yeah sure…" she thought. «<em>Well, sir, I have to go…thanks again for the umbrella</em>»</p><p>«<em>One last thing, Miss, if you don’t mind</em>» Hideki now had his hands in the pockets of his faded jeans. «<em>What do you know about the Kira case?</em>»</p><p>Ryoko couldn’t hide her surprise at that question. According to Gynos (who was standing right behind Hideki), this guy was trying to obtain some help from the Yagami boy. She wondered if he accepted the task.</p><p>«<em>Well, I hear the latest news every night but I don’t know if the police have a trail about them. I guess L ordered silence about those events</em>»</p><p>«<em>I see. If you want to discuss about it, you can find me at the cafeteria next to the University…tomorrow at 5pm</em>» the boy got in the car and soon the old man did the same and drove away. Ryoko observed the black car until it was a dark dot on the streets.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ THE NEXT DAY ♰</strong>
</p><p>«<em>You really want to see him again, Ryoko?</em>» Gynos asked, he was flying above her head.</p><p>She nodded. For that appointment she did all her tasks that morning in order to have the entire afternoon free. She wore the most informal clothes she had: a dark red shirt, long chestnut coloured pants and sneakers.</p><p>«<em>This sounds really funny, ehehe</em>» Gynos chuckled from above her.</p><p>She entered the cafeteria and looked around her: she didn’t see Hideki anywhere. Maybe she should ask to the waiter.</p><p>«<em>Excuse me, sir, did you see a tall boy with messy hair and strange posture?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Ah yes, he came here few minutes ago. He is waiting for you down there</em>» the kind waiter pointed at a table surrounded by bright flowers to create some privacy.</p><p>«<em>Thank you very much!» </em>she thanked and bowed formerly. Then she came closer to the table<em>. «Good afternoon Hideki-san</em>»</p><p>Hideki raised his head to look at her in his usual crouching position, the knees pressed against his chest. The bags under his eyes were evident as always. «<em>Good afternoon Miss</em>…»</p><p>«<em>Ryoko Koike</em>»</p><p>«<em>Miss Koike…please, have a seat</em>» he said quietly and the girl sat down right across him in the comfy bench. Few minutes later a waiter came to their table to take their orders. It didn’t take much before both Ryoko and Hideki were served.</p><p>Ryoko took a sip of her tea. «<em>I see you love sweets</em>…» she was looking at the huge slice of cake in front of Hideki.</p><p>«<em>It helps me with my work</em>…» Ryoko nodded and took another sip of her tea. «<em>Before starting with the Kira care, wouldn’t mind if I test your deduction skills?</em>»</p><p>«<em>What do you think starting with the introductions? Who are you…for real? I know "Hideki Ryuga" is not your real name, you chose it for some important reason I guess</em>» she asked without looking at him but at her reflection on the tea instead. When she raised the head she noticed a strange gaze from the boy as to say "Did you dare to interrupt me?".</p><p>«<em>Very well, Miss</em>.» he replied monotone and stepped next to her on the bench, in his usual couched position. «<strong><em>I am L</em></strong>.» he whispered low in her ear.</p><p>The time slowed. Ryoko could sense the people stopping their walk, the drinks were stuck mid-air and outside the cafeteria the traffic came to a halt. Everything except her and that weird guy seemed to stop.</p><p>Ryoko was in panic: luckily her cup of tea was on the table otherwise she would let it fall from the surprise. However, the tea was slightly shaking inside the cup, her hands were trembling.</p><p>"I cannot show fear or I would be suspicious. I must stay calm, I don’t know if he is truly L or a random weird guy…" she fixed her black hair behind the ear, the world was moving again around her. She looked at him neutral. </p><p>«<em>You were more convincing when you said to be Hideki Ryuga…</em>» she ate a scones from her plate.</p><p>«<em>I was informed about a strange series of deaths occurred at Yokohama…that's why I'm here</em>. <em>I trust you to maintain the secret about my identity</em>»</p><p>"How?! How could it be possible! I was so cautious!" she nodded at him. «<em>Yeah I heard that too</em>…»</p><p>«<em>Of course you heard that, Miss Koike…because <strong>you are behind those deaths</strong></em>»</p><p>«<em>Excuse me?</em>» she looked again at him.</p><p>«<em>There's the 80% of chance that you're the Kira behind the deaths at Yokohama</em>…» he continued, still next to her invading her personal space. «<em>However, I don’t have solid evidences yet</em>.» he came back to his seat.</p><p>"80%? It's high though…was I so clunky?"</p><p>The next hour the two of them stood at the cafeteria and Hideki / L did the same test with the three photos that he did with Light Yagami and he (mentally) took notes about Ryoko's way of reasoning, very similar but much more innocent than Light's one. She, unlike Light, pointed out immediately that there must be another photograph because the messages had no sense. However, she added something that clicked inside L's mind: «<em>The fourth one is a fake</em>»</p><p>«<em>What do you mean?</em>» L asked tilting his head.</p><p>«<em>In the first three photos you can clearly see the effort Kira made to create a long, intricate and complex messages: those were made for L to decode and only for him. Sure, the fourth one has a similar structure as the others, but anyone with a passion for crosswords could decipher it</em>» she replied sipping at her tea.</p><p>This changed his view of Ryoko Koike in a drastic way: from a mere suspect to his number two suspect of being Kira. However, she hadn’t the same modus operandi as the first Kira. Her victims were not all criminals: robbers, thieves, rapists, corrupt people and so on. The first Kira preferred more "high-ranked criminals".</p><p>After that interesting meeting (at least for L), the two split up and the black British car drove away with L inside. Ryoko stood there in front of the cafeteria for another minute.</p><p>«<em>If that guy is truly L, he was very brave to expose himself like that</em>» Gynos pointed out looking in the direction of the black car.</p><p>«<em>Very brave…or very stupid</em>» she added walking back home.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Investigations</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span class="u">Name: Ryoko Koike</span>
</p><p>
  <span class="u">Birth: 15<sup>th</sup> march 19xx</span>
</p><p>
  <span class="u">Current occupation: student at the Skylight Institute </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="u">Blood type: AB</span>
</p><p>
  <span class="u">Height: 170cm (67 inches) </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="u">Weight: 60kg (132 pounds)   </span>
</p><p> </p><p>«<em>Who is she, Ryuzaki?</em>»</p><p>«<em>The number one suspect for the deaths at Yokohama</em>»</p><p>«<em>Wha-Really?</em>» the first voice asked in disbelief.</p><p>«<em>She is so young</em>…» a third voice pointed out.</p><p>«<em>She is. However, I have to do further investigations</em>…» Ryuzaki replied bored.</p><p>A group of police officers was reunited in a fancy hotel room somewhere at Tokyo. The room was not much illuminated, the only source of light was the bright screen of Ryuzaki's computer. He was the main leader of the Anti-Kira task-force there in Japan: they were not only investigating about the first Kira but also about that new series of deaths at Yokohama.</p><p>«<em>That confirms Ryuzaki's theory about Kira being a college student</em>» one voice said.</p><p>«<em>It's not a theory: it's a matter of fact</em>» finally Ryuzaki spoke, his mouth full of ice-cream. «<em>This young woman is the other Kira…but I need more evidences</em>»</p><p>«<em>The patrol is still following her…if she makes a wrong move, they will arrest her</em>»</p><p>However, Ryuzaki wasn't paying much attention to them, he had a lot in mind. He was thinking back at his encounter with the suspect, Miss Koike. That encounter changed something inside him, something well-hidden for years. He was keeping a patrol behind her but if she was as clever as he thought, she already noticed it. The two agents followed her everywhere: at school, at the gym, with her friend Eriko and even at home, but they didn’t find anything relevant about her.</p><p>«<em>I have to do a drastic move</em>…» he said almost whispering.</p><p> </p><p>·················•·················•</p><p>Many weeks passed since the encounter between Ryoko and that weird guy, Hideki. She didn’t believe him when he said he was L: that was no way he could find her, that must be some sort of tactic.</p><p>The police patrol kept following her as Gynos remarked many times (he was annoyed by them despite the agents could not see him). During that time, she and the Shinigami got along a lot: she learnt he loved gambling and playing a strange game very famous in the Shinigami realm; he loved bed time (because the silence in the house had something special, as he once said) even if he didn’t sleep and his behaviour changed drastically (he was quite distant and cold even, but with time he became more protective towards her).</p><p>Ryoko's day ended smoothly: her grades were obviously excellent and she had good scores in the sport clubs too. Before coming back home she wanted to relax in the park a bit, just to clear her mind.</p><p>«<em>You know, Ryoko, those days you were acting strange</em>…» Gynos pointed out flying right behind her.</p><p>«<em>Uh?</em>»</p><p>«<em>You seem…distracted. That weird guy is still in your mind?</em>»</p><p>Ryoko sighed. It was true, Hideki Ryuga was still in her mind. She couldn’t forget their encounter so easily. «<em>What if he is L…for real? This means he already suspects me</em>…» Ryoko was a bit anxious about that whole situation. She was scared, she was in fear…she felt in trap like an animal.</p><p>«<em>Don’t worry about it…I'm here with you</em>» he patted her head twirling a lock of hair in his long fingers. Ryoko smiled.</p><p>«<em>Thanks Gynos</em>»</p><p>The park was close now and Ryoko could already smell the sweet scent of fresh grass in her nostrils. She smiled happily and entered the park. She crossed many people and children but she was interested in one thing: a centuries-old oak isolated from the rest of the park, that was her favourite spot.</p><p>She closed her eyes, she remembered the path by memory. Her senses were in peace not only thanks to the relaxed atmosphere of that place but thanks to Gynos' presence behind her too. He made her feel safer somehow.</p><p>«<em>Miss Koike! Hello</em>» someone called her. And <strong>she recognised that voice</strong>. Ryoko opened the eyes and her fears were confirmed: Hideki Ryuga / L (maybe?) was there crouched on a bench reading a book with only a hand.</p><p>«<em>Ah…Hideki-san, good afternoon</em>» she came closed to him.</p><p>«<em>Please, call me Ryuzaki from now on</em>» he replied closing the book.</p><p>«<em>Uh…alright, Ryuzaki…any particular reason for you being here?</em>» she tried to stay calm but it was difficult because of his eyes that were looking straight at her.</p><p>«<em>I wanted to talk to you, Miss</em>»</p><p>«<em>Talk…to me?</em>» she jumped a little, surprised. He gestured the seat next to him on the bench and Ryoko sat down. How did he know she was going to walk in the park anyway?</p><p>Ryuzaki nodded. «<em>Indeed. Last weeks I thought a lot about our appointment at the cafeteria. I would be a liar if I say that your way of reasoning didn’t intrigue me…it did actually</em>»</p><p>«<em>Really? I didn’t say anything special though</em>…»</p><p>«<em>You did…to me, yes</em>» he turned to look at her, his thumb on his lips deep in thought. «<em>I'm still 80% sure about your involvement in the Kira case…however</em>…» he continued, his voice low as a whisper but in Ryoko's ears it echoed clearly. «<em>The first Kira is my priority and I need as much help as possible</em>»</p><p>«<em>And you want mine as well</em>»</p><p>«<em>Indeed. If you help me with the Kira case, I would probably…do something about yours</em>» </p><p>«<em>What a sly proposal, ehehe!</em>» Gynos laughed behind the girl. Ryoko maintained a cool face but inside a storm of emotions was hurting all her senses: fear, hope, terror, uncertainly, trust yet despair.</p><p>«<em>How could I trust you? You changed your name twice and your behaviour is rather…odd</em>» she replied looking at him.</p><p>«<em>Don’t you trust me?</em>» he asked tilting his head.</p><p>«<em>Not at all</em>»</p><p>«<em>But I offered you an umbrella…it was a Brigg</em>.» he seemed sad about her answer.</p><p>«<em>Anyone with a good salary can afford that umbrella</em>…» she pointed out not fully convinced about Ryuzaki's acting.</p><p>Then the pale skinned boy took his phone (with his index and thumb just like he held the book) and typed few numbers. Ryoko waited quietly next to him wondering who was calling.</p><p>«<em>Watari</em>…» he said after a while and passed the phone at her. Ryoko took the grey telephone a bit unsure.</p><p>«<em>Uhm…Hello?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Good afternoon Miss Koike, I'm Watari, Ryuzaki's assistant. Do you remember me? I gave you that umbrella weeks ago</em>» a metallic, distorted voice said through the speaker.</p><p>«<em>Ah yes, hello Watari-san</em>…»</p><p>«<em>Miss, I believe Ryuzaki told you about the</em><strong><em> investigations</em></strong><em>, right?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Yes</em>…» Ryoko tried to stay as much neutral as possible in her replies. If she didn’t trust the boy, why should she trust that man?</p><p>«<em>I can assure you that Ryuzaki is actually who he told you to be…and he needs your help</em>»</p><p>Ryoko could feel the world falling on her like a huge weight. She was right, that boy was actually L. Did she get caught? Impossible: as she said days ago she was cautious about her victims. Even yesterday, when almost 90 people died because of her, she chose carefully each of them. She turned slowly the head towards Ryuzaki and she noticed he was looking up at the sky deep in though; hopefully he couldn’t see her terrified face in that moment. Ryoko regained her senses again, her stoic face turned as well.</p><p>«<em>I understand, thank you Mr. Watari</em>» she thanked him and gave the phone back to Ryuzaki. He ended the call putting the phone in his pocket.</p><p>«<em>Do you believe me now?</em>»</p><p>Ryoko sighed. «<em>Yes. However</em>…»</p><p>«<em>Uh?</em>»</p><p>«<em>I have to refuse your proposal, Ryuzaki-san</em>» Ryoko replied and heard Gynos laughing behind her.</p><p>«<em>Why is that?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Because I'm a high school student, I have lessons, clubs and projects. This is my last year and I need to study harder than ever for the exams. I hope you understand</em>» </p><p>Ryuzaki narrowed his eyes. He was staring at her watching every single movement trying to catch any sign of lying. He put his thumb over his lower lip, still in thought.</p><p>«<em>Of course</em>…»</p><p>«<em>Anyway, on Saturdays and Sundays I'm free. I can help you only those two days</em>»</p><p>«<em>That would be enough. Please, come every Saturday at my hotel</em>. <em>Watari will arrange a room for you</em>» he said getting up from the bench and put his shoes.</p><p>«<em>Your…hotel?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Yes. I'll give you further instructions later</em>» he walked away in his usual slouched posture.</p><p>«<em>He is stubborn, isn’t he?</em>» asked Gynos.</p><p>Ryoko only nodded, feeling more trapped than before.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ TIME SKIP ♰</strong>
</p><p>The whole week passed fast and it was already Saturday. It was 9am and Ryoko was preparing her bag in order to spend those two days in Ryuzaki's hotel. She wanted to know how much he knew about her and in particular how much he suspects her. She craved those info. Maybe it was because of it that she accepted Ryuzaki's proposal.</p><p>«<em>Mum! I'm going to stay at Eriko! I'll come back Sunday night after dinner!</em>» she yelled rushing towards the main door, putting her favourite ballerina shoes.</p><p>«<em>Be careful dear! Text me to say goodnight</em>»</p><p>«<em>Of course I will, mum, Bye!</em>» she rushed out of her house, putting her earphones and connecting them to her phone.</p><p>«<em>Those two agents are still following you</em>.» pointed out Gynos, his head turned towards a parked car not far from them. «<em>Do you want me to kill them?</em>»</p><p>«<em>No, Gynos…I would appear guiltier than I am</em>…» she said sighing.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>5</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Ryoko turned on her radio from her phone to ear the latest news.</p><p>«<em>Kira strikes again, here's the morning dispatch: in the region of Kanto more than 520 people died</em>» the radio speaker said with a serious voice.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>4</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>3</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>2</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>«<em>It seems that his action spread through the region, involving cities like Yokohama, Hakone and Narita</em>»</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>1</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Someone died, Ryoko knew it. She counted their final moments of life. Her lips curved in a strange smile.</p><p>She kept walking towards the Metro Station in order to go to the To-Oh University's cafeteria. She had to get a head start if she had to stay at Ryuzaki's hotel for two days: if the deaths suddenly stopped, she would appear guiltier. And appearing guilty of something inside the main task-force of the great L was not a brilliant idea. She wrote many names from different Prefectures, randomly chosen from the newscast. However, Ryoko knew that she had to kill people whose name was shown during her stay at Ryuzaki, she had to think about a plan as soon as possible.</p><p>One hour later, she was at the cafeteria and she brought many sweets and a lot of coffee just to make a good impression. Ryoko waited outside the cafeteria for 10 minutes when she saw the British black car approaching her. Watari got off the car and bowed kindly at her.</p><p>«<em>Miss Koike, I'm here to bring you at the hotel</em>»</p><p>«<em>Good morning, Mr. Watari. Yeah I imagined that</em>» he opened the car door for her and she got in the backseat. The car was so fancy! And luxurious! The black seats were comfy and soft, the interiors had many accessories and buttons.</p><p>Later, they arrived at the hotel and Watari parked the car in a special spot of the parking lot.</p><p>«<em>Take this, Miss. The reception will let you pass without problems</em>» Watari gave her a tiny business card and disappeared in the shadows.</p><p>Ryoko took a look at the business card and looked confused: a random series of letters and numbers were written in the white sheet.</p><p> </p><p>"<strong>Rodbhzk odqlhrrhnm: szrj-enqbd. </strong></p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <strong>Ozrrbncd: 4225"<br/></strong>
</p><p> </p><p>«<em>What is this?</em>» she used the elevator to go in the main hall but before approaching the reception she sat down near the entrance looking at the business card one more time. She took a pen and a piece of paper from her bag and started to resolve that riddle. That was made by L for sure.</p><p>That reminded her the puzzles she used to do with her brother when she was little. In fact, she resolved that test in 10 minutes and at the end the message sounded like:</p><p>"<span class="u">Special permission: task-force. Passcode: 4225</span>"</p><p>"Task-force? Passcode? Did I decrypt well?"</p><p>She stood up and came closer to the reception; she gave the business card to the man behind the computer, he analysed it and gave it back to the black haired girl. She thanked him and went to the elevators again, pressing the "Passcode" in the number pad of the lift. The elevator kept get in and eventually it stopped. The door opened and she met an empty hallway.</p><p>Ryoko stood next the elevator, the box of sweets and the coffee in her hands. She glanced at one camera with a strange, annoyed look, then took the business card again (placing the coffee and the box on a near-by table).</p><p>«<em>Which room is the right one?</em>» asked Gynos. Even though he could walk through the walls without being seen and telling Ryoko the right door, he sometimes loved asking stupid questions.</p><p>«<em>Well, at least the room is not much far from the elevator</em>.» she said in a rather loud voice. She got back the box and the coffee and went straight towards the room number 65. She knocked twice and someone opened the door.</p><p>«<em>Miss Koike, you're finally here. Ryuzaki is talking with the rest of the task-force, please come in</em>.» Watari spoke to her and let her come inside. Ryoko smiled at him.</p><p>«<em>Mr. Watari, I brought a box of sweets and some coffee for the…ehm…task-force</em>»</p><p>«<em>You're very kind, Miss Koike. I'll prepare a good snack for everyone thanks to you</em>» he replied and took the box and the coffee then he disappeared in the kitchen.</p><p>Ryoko stood there unsure what to do. Thankfully, Watari came back and he asked her to follow him. He knocked twice to a wooden door then he opened it.</p><p>«<em>Ryuzaki, she is here</em>»</p><p>«<em>Let her come in</em>»</p><p>Watari gestured Ryoko to go ahead and she entered the room. Suddenly, a strong sense of uneasiness took control of Ryoko: <strong>they were all men</strong>.</p><p>«<em>Good morning, Miss Koike</em>» Ryuzaki spoke from his armchair, his back faced her. When she greeted her, he didn’t even turn to look at her, the screen of his computer was much more interesting.</p><p>«<em>Good morning Ryuzaki</em>» Ryoko replied bowing a little. «<em>And good morning to all of you</em>» she said addressing to the rest of the task-force.</p><p>«<em>Are you…Ryoko Koike for real?</em>» one of the youngest man asked her.</p><p>«<em>Indeed, sir</em>»</p><p>«<em>Wha-I can't believe it! She won for four consecutive years the prize "Female player of the year" at cricket!</em> <em>I'm Touta Matsuda, detective!</em>»</p><p>«<em>It's nice to meet you, Mr. Matsuda. I'm glad some of you know how to play cricket</em>» she bowed at him in respect, she was much younger than him after all. Alongside with Matsuda, the others introduced themselves too: Soichiro Yagami, Suichi Aizawa, Mogi Kanzo and Hirokazu Ukita.</p><p>«<em>However,</em> <em>I regret to tell you something, sir</em>…» Ryoko said with a sigh. All the men (except Ryuzaki) looked at her confused. «<em>If Ryuzaki thinks I am the other Kira, it was pretty stupid from all of you telling me your names so easily…haven't you got some alias like L did?</em>»</p><p>Everyone gasped loudly and looked at each other with fear. Only in that moment Ryuzaki turned to look at her. </p><p>«<em>That's what I meant when I said "your way of reasoning intrigued me", Miss Koike</em>. <em>It was a nice remark</em>…» he climbed down from his comfy armchair and came closer to her. «<em>Welcome to the task-force</em>»</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Eyes</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ryoko stretched her arms and legs: she wasn’t used to sit for four hours straight without a break. She kept working on the files Ryuzaki gave her, files about the first Kira's victims: twelve FBI agents died in a mysterious way. She was trying to connect those murders somehow. Her attention was focused on a specific victim: Raye Penber, a handsome man with black hair and light eyes; according to the file he is American, though he has a Japanese mother. However, something was missing…she could sense it.</p><p>Ryoko got up from her chair. Few weeks ago a new year started and everything was white outside. She loved snow and playing with it, she had good memories linked to the snow.</p><p> «<em>Oi Ryoko-san, what are you looking at?</em>» she heard Matsuda asking her from behind.</p><p>«<em>The snow…I really like it</em>»</p><p>During her time in that hotel, Ryoko got along with everyone there: Matsuda reminded her of her own brother, Aizawa was the "action man" of the group (preferring working outside rather than reading some boring paper) and Soichiro was like her father to Ryoko, so kind and protective.</p><p>And what about Ryuzaki? She didn’t know how to approach him, he had still suspects about her. Initially he was cold, distant and insolent; but later she discovered a "cute" side of him: a sweet-lover (or addicted), good listener and advisor and he knew many languages. At least, he didn’t treat her badly as he did with poor Matsuda.</p><p>«<em>Matsuda-san, can I talk to you for a moment?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Uh…yeah sure</em>» Matsuda got up from his desk and followed her outside the room. «<em>What is it, Koike-san?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Matsuda, I have the suspect something is missing about those FBI agents killed by Kira. I want to confirm my suspects but Ryuzaki will not let me go alone…would you come with me, please?</em>»</p><p>Matsuda turned red as a tomato, it was clear he had a crush on her. A huge one indeed. «<em>U-Uh…y-yes! I mean…o-of course! We have to warn Ryuzaki then</em>» Ryoko nodded hoping Ryuzaki would say yes.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ TIME SKIP ♰</strong>
</p><p>«<em>So you want to interrogate two people</em>…»</p><p>Ryoko nodded, Matsuda next to her.</p><p>«<em>And you want to go with Matsuda</em>…»</p><p>Ryoko nodded again. She and Matsuda were asking the permission to go outside and investigate. Ryuzaki was actually eating a large cup of ice-cream in that moment, chewing with an open mouth while talking to them.</p><p>«<em>Why should I say yes?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Because I believe this interrogation will overturn the entire case</em>»</p><p>Ryuzaki narrowed his dull, dark eyes observing her but he looked away when Ryoko looked at him as well. His dark hair was covering most of his face and Ryoko could not tell what kind of emotions he was feeling.</p><p>«<em>Very well…if you say so</em>…» Ryuzaki replied in a whisper. «<em>Matsuda, before you go…I want to talk in private with you</em>» Ryoko looked at him with a sympathetic smile then left the room.</p><p>«<em>Yes Ryuzaki?</em>»</p><p>The pale skinned man climbed down from his chair and came closer to Matsuda. «<em>Don't do stupid and childish things…she is still a suspect, likely a mass murderer too. I would appreciate a professional behaviour from you</em>» he looked at him with a strange gaze.</p><p>Matsuda swallowed hard. «<em>Yes, understood!</em>» Ryuzaki observed him for few seconds before returning crouched in his chair. Matsuda left the room quickly, sighing in relief.</p><p>«<em>Are you alright, Matsuda-san?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Y-Yeah don’t worry. Let's go</em>»</p><p>For Ryoko it was like being inside a thriller movie with the couple detective-assistant going around doing the investigations. She gave Matsuda the address she found in the files and together they went there.</p><p>They arrived at their location, an old house with dark orange walls. From outside everything seemed abandoned and forgotten: the grass was dry and all the flowers were dead. Matsuda knocked twice at the wooden door but nobody came to open it, so he and Ryoko tried to go inside through the back door: the building was empty, the furniture was simple and very old and a thick layer of dust covered everything. Matsuda checked the house before starting their research and Ryoko noticed how protective he was towards her as if she was in danger. She reassured him, she knew how to defend herself. However, they didn’t find anything except dirty plates and Matsuda was pretty annoyed.</p><p>The house seemed deserted and crumbling from a long time, no sign of its inhabitants. And that was the "thing" Ryoko sensed back at HQ. If her info were correct, that was the house used by Penber and Misora for Light Yagami's tailing; and their absence was the key factor in this entire story.</p><p>Despite this, the two of them found this "day trip" funny and Matsuda was in a flutter all the time, blushing like a mess at every Ryoko's laughs. For him, it was like a sort of date. Eventually, that atmosphere was broken by Matsuda's phone.</p><p>«<em>Hello?</em>» the young detective jumped slightly when the interlocutor replied back. «<em>Oh Ryuzaki! Yes!</em>»</p><p>Not much after that answer, however, the call ended abruptly leaving a confused Matsuda with his phone in hand.</p><p>«<em>What is it, Matsuda-san?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Ryuzaki is mad at me for some reason</em>…» he sighed defeated.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>·················•·················•</p><p>Ryuzaki found out the death of Naomi Misora, Raye Penber's fiancée. And L was pretty pissed off about it: he lost a valuable and smart woman of his team back in America. So he decided that he would investigate about the people trailed by Raye Penber: his death alongside with Naomi's must be linked. He had to admit, everything was thanks to Ryoko too. When he asked how she realized it she said: «<em>Thriller movies taught me to interrogate the partner or the parents of the suspect or victim. It was simple. Moreover, Ryuzaki, you should have known that Miss Misora would investigate on her own after her fiancé's death</em> <em>despite she was not an agent anymore</em>» She was right, Ryuzaki admitted it (not openly of course).</p><p>For his investigation on Yagami's family, he had to install cameras and microphones in the house as soon as possible in order to start his monitoring. He was sure about a thing: Light and Ryoko were respectively the first and the second Kira. And he was going to prove it.</p><p>«<em>Me and Yagami-san will analyse the tapes of his house. While me and Watari will do the same for Miss Ryoko's home</em>» L announced at his task-force. Despite he met many opposing opinions he started anyway his recording (or rather than spying) sessions.</p><p>L's goal? To put pressure on Ryoko and obtain a confession. He was sure from their first encounter she was the Kira that was hitting at Yokohama. As sure as he was about Light Yagami. So, much like the Yagami boy, he installed cameras and microphones all around the Koike's house (even in the garden). But he wouldn’t limit at the wiretaps and bugs; he doubled the agents on Ryoko's tail. L needed her to see them in order to made her <strong>feel</strong> the terrible, anxious and incessant sensation of being hunted and observed by police (and by him in particular).</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ TIME SKIP, NEAR KOIKE'S HOUSE ♰</strong>
</p><p>«<em>Goodbye Ikki!</em>» Eriko waved at her best friend before entering her own house. Ryoko waved back and walked back home.</p><p>«<em>Gee, what a day</em>» she said mostly at herself more than at Gynos, right behind her. The walk between Eriko and Ryoko's houses was not much long and that part of the city was always so calm at that hour of the afternoon. Not many people passed by but Ryoko noticed the road was quite "crowded" than usual: a cute couple here, a man at the phone there, a group of friends somewhere else. Ryoko frowned but didn’t put much attention to it, maybe people were enjoying the afternoon too.</p><p>About twenty minutes later she was at home and as always she was the last one to come back (her father didn’t count because he worked at Tokyo and came back only in the weekends).</p><p>«<em>Mom! Kazuo! I'm back!</em>» she shouted once inside her house. She removed the shoes and stepped first in the living room then in the kitchen. «<em>Where's everyone?</em>»</p><p>Ryoko went closer to the fridge and noticed a tiny piece of paper attached to it. It said "Me and mom are at the supermarket! Mr and Ms. Saeki will be our guests for dinner, so don’t eat anything! Clean the house instead! Xoxo Kazuo"</p><p>«<em>Really Kazuo? I'm not gonna clean the mess you made in the living room</em>» she said out loud and put the piece of paper back on the fridge. However, if they had guests for dinner, it would be quite impolite not to clean the house. «<em>I'll start from the dining room then</em>»</p><p>Ryoko did all the cleaning: she changed the tablecloths, cleaned the shelves and all the decorations in the door, she washed the floor and the windows were shining. She took a moment to leave her house to throw out the garbage; once outside she noticed two men not far from her house that were chatting friendly between them.</p><p>"They are there from before I came back…" she stood there observing them of a while until she remembered she was in her school uniform with the garbage in her hands. She threw it out and was going to lead inside but Gynos stopped her.</p><p>«<em>Don’t speak. I think someone is watching you…even inside. Be careful</em>»</p><p>Ryoko let those words sink in and closed her eyes. From outside she had a calm, neutral face but inside…oh she was boiling. Her first feeling was anger: someone entered her house, violating an important and private place. But she tried to calm down with few deep breaths then she led inside.  </p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ THE NEXT DAY ♰</strong>
</p><p>Ryoko didn’t sleep well last night. She had always the feeling of someone watching her (and for once it was not Gynos). Even under the sheets she felt a pair of eyes on her, it was creepy.</p><p>«<em>Hey sis, wanna walk to the train station?</em>» Kazuo asked her at the doorframe while Ryoko was putting her school shoes sitting in the genkan <strong>(A/N: Genkan=the entranceway just inside the front door where shoes are removed, slightly lower than the hallway and the rooms of the house)</strong>.</p><p>«<em>Sure. How's To-Oh anyway?</em>»</p><p>«<em>It's fantastic, I love everything about that place</em>»</p><p>Ryoko nodded and took a moment to observe her brother's clothes: a pair of ripped jeans, white turtleneck, black jacket and boots. But since we were talking about Kazuo, everything about them was a mess (boots not tied, creased sweater and uncombed hair).</p><p>«<em>Gee Kazuo…at least adjust the boots, you could fall!</em>» Ryoko protested. «<em>You're a top three To-Oh student. You can't go like that»</em></p><p>«<em>Ugh fine!</em>» he quickly fixed his clothes and before leaving the house with Ryoko he combed his brown hair too.</p><p>The two took their respective bags and left the house. Ryoko quickly texted at Eriko telling her that she will takes notes for her too (and to get well soon obviously). During the walk for their school, Kazuo and Ryoko talked about university. He chose Biology because he wanted to become a coroner one day.</p><p>«<em>Your friends said your speech was so good that you would choose something in Politics for sure</em>» Ryoko teased him with a smug smile on her face.</p><p>«<em>You're the one good with words, not me</em>» he rolled his eyes at his sister's teasing words, hitting jokingly with the bag.</p><p>About ten minutes later they arrived at the train station and the two split up, Ryoko walked towards her school. She stood in silence for few minutes just listening at her surroundings, she was sure someone was following her. And she was right, she could hear a pair of shoes came to a halt in the same moment Ryoko stopped walking.</p><p>She felt Gynos turn around (because both hands had five silver rings linked with long chains that would make a metallic ting at every movement). «<em>They are two at the end of the road</em>» he stated.</p><p>Ryoko sighed and started to walk again towards her school, lessons were going to start.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ TIME SKIP, AFTER SCHOOL ♰</strong>
</p><p>Since her school was a non-traditional high school, the building had a locker room for both males and females. In that moment she was changing clothes with the rest of the female volleyball team. Everyone was chatting and laughing quite loudly but Ryoko wasn’t listening to them. She had other problems instead: how many people were following her? How many cameras and bugs were in her house? And for how long did she have to pretend not to know anything?</p><p>"This is insane… If I stop killing, L would notice and he'll arrest me. If I write names during school hours, he would notice and he'll arrest me. If the number of killing decrease suddenly, he would notice and he'll arrest me…<strong>I cannot do anything!</strong>" Ryoko was internally screaming even though her face was calm and expressionless.</p><p>«<em>Moreover, if one of those people following you should die, you would be in trouble</em>» Gynos said once Ryoko was fully clothed. Deep down he was having fun despite someone was bothering his favourite. Yes, Gynos admitted Ryoko was his favourite. What did it mean for a Shinigami? Well, that if he tried to kill someone that was threatening Ryoko's life, he would die.  </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>·················•·················•</p><p>It was a rainy afternoon and the air made the rain even colder than usual. Ryoko damned her skirt uniform for being so short and useless against bad weather. She was leading home with her brother Kazuo, coming back from Tokyo to have dinner with them.</p><p>Ryoko counted the people that were following her (taking turns obviously): fifteen. F I F T E E N. Not one or two. FIFTEEN! Almost an entire police station was behind her.</p><p>Anyway, in that rainy afternoon something was off. Ryoko sensed something was going to happen and she was scared to know more about it. However, she found a solution for her "killing problem".</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ FLASHBACK ♰</strong>
</p><p>«<em>Tell me, Gynos, can a Shinigami continue using the Death Note despite its owner being human?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Technically I can use it to extend my own life even though you're the formal owner</em>» he replied shrugging.</p><p>«<em>Why are you telling me this <strong>now</strong>?!</em>»</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ BACK TO THE PRESENT ♰</strong>
</p><p>So in that moment Gynos was not with her. However, Ryoko wasn’t feeling good anyway.</p><p>«<em>Ikki, you seem quite absent-minded today…are you alright?</em>»</p><p>Ryoko snapped back into the real world and nodded. «<em>Yes, I'm just tired</em>»</p><p>Yes, tired was the definition of her actual state. But the truth was that she felt even worse. The fact that L was tailing her so shamelessly was stressing her out. Despite Gynos was doing all the work with the Death Note, she felt a huge weight on her shoulders, caused by the school. Exams were coming closer and she needed to study harder in order to attend the best universities in Japan. Much like Kazuo, a former student of the To-Oh, Ryoko had to choose a prestigious college to guarantee her a respectable job.</p><p>However, in the last weeks (since L started his spying session) school was not going so well. From "S", her marks lowered at "A" and even few Bs. It was so out of character for Ryoko: she was a top student, the third excellence in her high school. Those marks weren't sufficient for most universities in Japan: <span class="u">they were too low</span>. So Ryoko was double stressed those days and she couldn’t enjoy moments like weekends with her family anymore.</p><p>She spent all her time in her room, alone (even without Gynos) with books and papers, trying to improve her grades. But it was all useless. As time passed she could see even more Bs on her school reports. She was desperate, she cried at each test.</p><p>Thanks to Mr.Koike's "kind words", Ryoko realised her teachers always gave her the wrong tests because another girl, in her class, had a very similar name to hers. So each time Ryoko received a test, it was not hers. It was a bit suspicious tho, something like that never happened to her. For some reason she thought L put his paw into it. Long story short: she was so frustrated for nothing. She stood angry for two days straight because of it.</p><p>However, she couldn’t be angry the day of her graduation. It was March, a splendid and warm day in front of her. She wanted to be super beautiful at least that day. Ryoko had her own hakama <strong>(A/N: Hakama= a type of traditional Japanese clothing that women wear at graduation ceremonies and for traditional Japanese sports such as kyūdō)</strong>: a pant-like garment worn over a kimono worn with tabi (Japanese split-toe socks) and Japanese style sandals; she had an olive green hakama (the pants) with a colourful top. That day she felt so good, all her problems vanished and she could be happy again.</p><p>«<em>You look good in that, girl</em>» Gynos said during the ceremony.</p><p>Finally, she could attend the so famous Higashi University! It was one of the most respectful, esteemed and rather expensive Universities in Japan. About reputation, it was as important as the To-Oh (where Ryoko's brother, Kazuo, was taking courses). Ryoko wanted to become a Criminal Psychologist (wasn’t it funny uh? Someone as her, with tons of deaths on her shoulders, wanted to study how criminals thought). Everything came back to normal (well, except for the fifteen agents behind Ryoko). The lessons started on April and during summer she would have the first exams, she couldn’t wait.</p><p>Until one day. Once university was over, Ryoko was going back home. She was so focused on her next exam session that she didn’t notice two men that walked closer to her at a traffic light.</p><p>«<em>Are you Miss Ryoko Koike?</em>» one of them asked.</p><p>«<em>Uh…yes?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Miss Koike, I regret to inform you that you're under arrest with the accusation of being Kira</em>»</p><p>«<em>What?!</em>» she uttered in surprise, dropping all her papers. </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. All I can see is white</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>ATTENTION! Mention and description of psychological torture!!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>«<em>Don't you think it's a bit too much, L?</em>»</p><p> «<em>We're talking about mass murderers, Aizawa-san. They kill in a blink of an eye. Ryoko-san can manage a bit of isolation</em>»</p><p>"A bit of isolation", L sometimes could be so funny. The so called "White room torture": a psychological torture aimed at complete sensory deprivation and isolation; a prisoner was held in a cell that deprived them of all senses and identity. Everything around them was white: the floor, the walls, the clothes, even the food was white and tasteless. Neon tubes were positioned above the occupant in such a way that no shadows were shown; the cell was soundproof, and void of any sound, voices or social interaction. Guards (well only Watari actually) stood in silence wearing padded shoes to avoid making any noise. Prisoners could not hear anything but themselves.</p><p>You could wonder <span class="u">why</span> L decided to use this method to extort a confession for Ryoko. «<em>Why not?</em>» he would reply. After all, he confined Misa Amane in a straitjacket and Light Yagami in a cell handcuffed for more than 50 days, so what was the problem with the White room?</p><p>The task-force didn’t quite agree with this measure, considered as "too extreme" even for L. But it was clear they didn’t know L at all. For now, they would cooperate but they were ready to stop everything if something started to go wrong.</p><p>In particular, Matsuda was more touched than the others. He liked Ryoko: she was clever, cunning and caring too <strong>(A/N: Just to have a clear time line= Light and Ryoko were born in 1986, Misa in 1984, L was born in 1982 and Matsuda in 1981. The story is set between 2004 and 2005)</strong>. He couldn’t believe that someone like her could be Kira, it was impossible for him. He refused to believe it (and he will always do so). However, L was his boss and he had to do everything he said.</p><p>On the other hand, there was Ryoko. When she was arrested after the lessons at university  the two men told her that L would interrogate her at the police station but they lied. She realised she was not at Yokohama anymore (and that confirmed her L's involvement in that story) but she couldn’t recognise where she was. Then the two men handcuffed and blindfolded her and later they took her inside a building, Ryoko couldn’t tell which one.</p><p>Once inside the agents told her to change clothes, leaving all her belongings behind. A bit reluctant, Ryoko did as order and wore a simple white dress (nothing special, a sort of hospital gown but a bit cuter). In the end, she was taken to the White room, she didn’t even notice the door behind her was close.</p><p>«<em>It's too minimalist for my tastes</em>»</p><p>And with that, Ryoko's personal torture began.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ 8 HOURS IN CONFINEMENT ♰</strong>
</p><p>She couldn’t talk to anybody, she couldn’t hear a sound, she couldn’t do anything. That room was the physical definition of boredom. Ryoko spent the first hours "exploring" the place: all surfaces were smooth, even the bed (her only form of entertainment); no windows or, in general, contacts with the outside world; she had water for 10 days and food was served by a man (presumably Watari) in a white paper plate. Well, she ate only white rice…it couldn’t be defined as proper food.</p><p>Luckily she had Gynos, the Shinigami. His voice and the metallic sound he made with his strange chained rings kept her sanity almost normal. Much like Matsuda, Gynos was against this method too. And if a God of Death said it, it meant that L crossed the line.</p><p>«<em>What should I do, girl? I don’t like seeing you like this</em>»</p><p>«<em>No, it's ok…don't worry</em>» those conversations could be easily confused as hallucinations or delusions and Ryoko played a lot with them. However, Gynos noticed that not all Ryoko's statements were addressed to him…sometimes she talked to herself too.</p><p>«小言いふ相手もあらばけふの月… <em>If only she were here, my complaining partner. Today’s moon</em>» <strong>(A/N: this is an example of "Haiku", a traditional Japanese poetry)</strong> Ryoko read out without a particular reason. Was it another Ryoko's ravings? Not for Gynos.</p><p>«<em>Alright, I'll go to see that boy</em>» and with that Gynos disappeared from the White room. Why, you could wonder, Gynos replied like that. Because the kanji to write the words "moon" and "month" (月pronounced as "getsu", "gatsu" or "tsuki") and the name "Light" was the same: in other words, Ryoko asked him to go and see what Light was doing. That was the only way for Ryoko to communicate with the Shinigami confusing her messages with her own hallucinations.</p><p>In the meantime, Gynos flew quietly around that deserted place. There were only long and empty corridors, he didn’t know where he had to go. Eventually, after a while, he heard voices…human voices. He followed the sound and he ended in front of a cell.</p><p>«<em>Uh? This is strange</em>…» he laughed at the sight in front of him. On the other side of the bars the Yagami boy was handcuffed on the ground, his skin was paler than normal and an exhausted expression on his face. Even his eyes seemed more…innocent. Wait, innocent?</p><p>«<em>I wonder where's Ryuk</em>…» Gynos looked at his surroundings and except for the brunette boy and many cameras, there was nothing interesting. «…<em>and since when you're stuck here, Yagami Light</em>»</p><p>Despite that sight was quite amusing for him, Gynos was not satisfied yet. He opened his wings and flew upwards going beyond many other floors; he ended up in a hall. A hall? Like…an hotel hall? Yes, he was in a fancy and elegant hotel hall, full of people and tourists.</p><p>«<em>Now I see</em>…» the Shinigami kept flying until he reached a room with luxurious features and decorations. Gynos recognised that guy, L, alongside with a man with a large black afro and dark brown eyes and another man with black hair that hanged primarily above his right eye and brown eyes. Gynos read above their heads "Matsuda Touta" and "Aizawa Suichi".</p><p>«<em>Light-kun, how are you feeling right now?</em>» L asked through the microphone in front of him, his dull black eyes glued at the screen that showed Light's image.  </p><p>The Yagami boy grunted tiredly looking at the camera. «<em>Ugh…I'm okay Ryuzaki. I know that in the time I've been in prison no new criminals have died</em>» he pointed out between gasps as if he was catching his breath after a marathon. «<em>However, that suggests to me that Kira must be someone who's intimately familiar with my situation</em>»</p><p>«<em>No Light. The reason criminals have stopped dying is because you are Kira</em>» L replied calmly, watching carefully every single reaction from the brunette boy. Aizawa and Matsuda became even more worried than before.</p><p>«<em>No, I'm not Kira! How many times do I have to say it?</em>» Light's voice suggested he was quite angry. L was so focused at Light that at first he didn’t notice Aizawa was talking.</p><p>«<em>This is cruel; I don’t care if he is a suspect…Light still has the right to know that criminals are being killed again</em>»</p><p>However, L wasn’t listening to him. He pressed the button to activate the microphone connected to Misa's cell, maybe hoping to obtain a confession from her. «<em>Amane</em>…» this time the voice was modified.</p><p>«<em>Yes?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Are you ok? You seem tired</em>»</p><p>Gynos looked at the screen where a blonde girl stood tied in a straitjacket against a metallic plate. The head hung loose, her body barely covered with a white dress much like Ryoko. «<em>Is that supposed to be funny? How are you expecting me to look after being tied up in question for this many days?</em>» she said with a faint yet very sweet voice.</p><p>"So many days uh? This means these two were already in arrest while Ryoko was brought here" Gynos thought and kept listening.</p><p>«<em>Please, just let me go…I want to see Light…please…Light</em>» she pleaded, her voice cracked but Gynos saw no tears. Maybe she cried so much that she run out of tears?</p><p>Like before, Aizawa and Matsuda were still concerned. «<em>I'm not sure how much more the three of them can take</em>…» Matsuda pointed out.</p><p>«<em>Ryuzaki, you have no reason to keep Light locked up anymore. Do the right thing and let him go then we can get the chief out too</em>» the other detective, Aizawa, started to argue with L. «<em>Criminals are still being killed even though Misa and Light haven’t had access to any of that information…we know that much already so what are you waiting for?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Not true. All we really know at this point is Amane harbours an unnaturally strong devotion for Light Yagami</em>» finally L deemed them as worth of his attention. In the meantime, he was licking the remains of an ice-cream.</p><p>«<em>Ryuzaki, I'm sorry but with all due respect from where I'm standing it's starting to look like you're only doing this because you don’t want to admit that you were wrong about Light</em>» Aizawa kept doing his arguing. Clearly that situation was making him feel uneasy.</p><p>«<em>Yes, I figured you'd say that</em>»</p><p>This made Aizawa snap. «<em>Okay fine but we do know that Kira killed Lind L Taylor and those FBI agents right as Light said. If Kira could kill while under surveillance and without access to information, there would have been no need. If they didn’t pose a threat then why would he bother killing them</em>» he said all in one breath but he wasn’t over. «<em>Kira doesn’t kill without good reason; I've heard you say so yourself on more than one occasion</em>»</p><p>«<em>And you think you could do the same with Ryoko-san?</em>» Matsuda added shortly after Aizawa’s (good) reasoning. «<em>Even at Yokohama criminals are still being killed. Keeping Ryoko-san in that monstrous room will lead to nothing</em>»</p><p>«<em>Eheh, humans</em>» Gynos said before flying away from that room and coming back Ryoko, just to tell her what happened.</p><p> </p><p>·················•·················•</p><p>
  <strong>♰ 24 HOURS IN CONFINEMENT ♰</strong>
</p><p>«<em>If I should be completely honest with you, Eriko, I think pink doesn’t suit you. Don’t look at me with that face, you know what I mean….bla bla bla, yellow is better…orange too. The metric system was invented in Italy in mid 1800s…Vatican City is the smallest country in the world</em>» Ryoko was blabbering about random things from two hours straight. Gynos didn’t understood if she was talking to him or not anymore. For him, it was sure that if she read out a poetry, he had to do something.</p><p>In Ryoko's mind things started to looking confusing. She didn’t know what time was it, if it was day or night; moreover, that isolation started to crumble her own self-esteem (and Watari, that kept saying her family wasn’t worried at all about her disappearance, was not helping). Maybe he was right, nobody noticed it…or maybe they noticed but didn’t care. She thought her family would be happy without her, they had Kazuo as family treasure.</p><p>And Eriko too. Perhaps she found a new best friend to spend time and gossip together.</p><p>Because of these thoughts, Ryoko spent most part of her time crying or sobbing quietly in the bed. </p><p>«ある程の  菊抛げ入れよ  棺の中…<em>Throw all flower, Of chrysanthemum, Into the coffin</em>…» the raven girl whispered from under the sheets.</p><p>That was it, another poem. Gynos wondered what he should do this time. 棺 (pronounced "kan") was the kanji for "coffin" while 菊 ("kiku") were the chrysanthemum…</p><p>«<em>You are…comparing yourself to the chrysanthemum and you want me to discover when you would get out of this coffin?</em>» Gynos asked her unsure about his interpretation of the poem.</p><p>«<em>Indeed…poem by Natsume Soseki</em>…»</p><p>The Shinigami nodded and flew upwards towards the blue room where Ryuzaki had his monitors.</p><p>Once he reached the right floor, the scene in front of him was quite strange: Soichiro Yagami, Aizawa and Matsuda on the couch, Light and L handcuffed together and Misa arguing with him.</p><p>«<em>Are you sure this is necessary, Ryuzaki?</em>» Light asked while observing the handcuff on his left wrist.</p><p>«<em>This is as difficult for me as it is you</em>» L replied showing him his right wrist.</p><p>«<em>So is this what you meant by "being together 24 hours a day" with him? Looking at you I never would have guessed…are you on that side of the fence, Ryuzaki?</em>» Misa asked mischievously to him.</p><p>Then they would continue to argue: Misa kept saying she was Light's girlfriend, the Yagami boy didn’t quite agree (and Misa started to cry). Eventually the three were separated (actually Misa was dragged away). L tried to convince Light to persuade Misa since she loved the Yagami boy in order to obtain a confession. Of course Light refused.</p><p>«<em>What about the other suspect, Ryuzaki?</em>» Matsuda asked him. Light looked at the raven haired man in front of him a bit confused.</p><p>«<em>Who?</em>»</p><p>«<em>A girl suspected of being Kira as well. She is in the White room from a day right now</em>» L replied as if it was the most normal thing in the world.</p><p>«<em>What?! The White room? That's insane!</em>» Light uttered in shock.</p><p>«<em>Now, now Light-kun…there's no need to be so scandalised. You withstood something similar and from what I'm seeing you're perfectly fine</em>»</p><p>«<em>Yeah but she is not me</em>»</p><p>L ignored his last statement and continued his speech. «<em>I intend to keep her there until the new HQ is completed…which would happen in few days</em>»</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ 77 HOURS IN CONFINEMENT ♰</strong>
</p><p>Still tasteless white rice and water. Ryoko had enough of that food, honestly. She missed her mother's meals so much. Actually she missed everything and everyone: her mother, her father, Kazuo, her best friend Eriko. Even if they didn’t want her anymore, she missed them so bad. Ryoko had the feeling that her head would explode, she wanted…no, <strong>needed</strong> to get out of there.</p><p>«草の戸も住替る代ぞひなの家 、面八句を庵の柱に懸置。"<em>Even a thatched hut, may change with a new owner. Into a doll’s house". This is Matsuo Bashō, you know? From "The Narrow Road to the Deep North"…we studied it in Japanese literature, Eriko, don’t you remember? </em>»</p><p>Ryoko was irascible, sad and tired aided by the fact that she couldn’t sleep well. She could fall asleep only thanks to sleeping pills. That situation became unbearable for her. Ryoko had to do something. <span class="u">Gynos</span> needed to do something.</p><p>«<em>Right, searching for a way out</em>» he said before disappearing somewhere.</p><p>"It's time to brush up my Savate skills" she thought then sighed, lying on the ground.  <strong>(A/N: Savate= it is a French kickboxing combat sport that uses the hands and feet as weapons combining elements of English boxing with graceful kicking techniques) </strong></p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Escape</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>(A/N: mention of fight and strong language ahead)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>♰ 80 HOURS IN CONFINEMENT ♰</strong>
</p><p>Ryoko had to wait meal time. A man, probably Watari, would enter the room (without making any noise), put on the ground a white paper plate with rice and then leave the room. However, before going away, he would poke the raven haired girl with a sort of long baton in order to let her know he was there; she had to wait until he was not in the room anymore to start eating.</p><p>That time came quickly because Gynos warned her Watari was coming. She had to be prepared, she didn’t know how Watari would react at her attack. Moreover, Watari was much larger, older and stronger than Ryoko, and of course, much more in good health than her.</p><p>She couldn’t hear the door opening, her back faced it, but she felt the signal on her shoulder: the poking with the baton. She grabbed it to stand up and then she pulled it away from Watari's hands; using it as a distraction, Ryoko started immediately the fight. At first she punched him in the face and he, obviously, avoided it skilfully, he attacked back and Ryoko avoided it in turn; then she kicked him in the leg and attacking rapidly his shoulder, the hip and tripped him over the ground.</p><p>Watari did the same and Ryoko fell hard on her back. She let out a yell of pain then she noticed Watari was going to trap her with his arms so she rolled away from him just in time. With a couple of flips, she was on her legs again and so was the older man. He tried to kick her in the hip but she avoided it slapping his leg away; Watari didn’t lose time and tried to kick her again but Ryoko used her leg to protect herself.</p><p>"I have to be quick or he will warn L" she thought. Her forehead was sweaty and she could feel her forces slowly abandon her.</p><p>In one last attempt, she punched him many times while blocking all his kicks. She saw her chance; his face was defenceless so she kicked him hard. In the <strong>middle</strong> of his face. Ryoko yelled again in pain and Watari fell unconscious on the ground.</p><p>She stood there staring at him for few seconds just to be sure he fainted. He didn’t get up so Ryoko took the black baton and rushed outside that damn White room, closing and locking the door behind her.</p><p>«<em>Sorry-not-sorry Watari-san</em>» she said towards the door and when she turned she almost cried.</p><p>
  <strong>Colours. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Patterns. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Sounds. </strong>
</p><p>She could live the world again! She was so happy!</p><p>«<em>Move girl, you don’t have much time. Follow me</em>» Gynos distracted her and started to lead the way towards the exit. Ryoko noticed how labyrinthine that place was: the hallways were all the same, it seemed to run in circle. Thanks to Gynos she managed to reach the exit door; once outside she used the baton to block the door (just in case Watari escaped the room) and then she observed her surroundings.</p><p>«<em>It's an hotel laundry!</em>» Ryoko noticed with shock. She was trapped in an hotel basement all this time? She was going to give L a roasting, a very good one.</p><p>«<em>This way, girl</em>» Gynos' raspy voice distracted her again and she quickly followed him outside the laundry. Ryoko's light chocolate eyes sparkled in joy at that sight.</p><p>
  <strong>Other people. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Life. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Social interactions. </strong>
</p><p>She could sense her heart skip a beat for the happiness. She almost forgot what was like being with other people. While following Gynos she kept watching the world around her, Ryoko's mind was feeling better minute after minute.</p><p>«<em>Elevator or stairs?</em>» the Shinigami asked her.</p><p>«<em>Elevator…I don’t have enough strength for the stairs</em>» she rushed towards the nearest lift.</p><p>Gynos told her which floor she had to come up and the elevator's door closed. Ryoko was alone in the tiny space of the lift and the waiting gave her time to think about the last events: she knocked out someone like Watari ("I mean, he was a great fighter back then…" she thought) and now she was sneaking in an hotel with an embarrassing white dress.</p><p>Her heart was still beating furiously against her chest at a point that soon it would hurt. The adrenaline gave her a new energy but she realised soon she would faint because of the intense activity and because of the unregulated life style she had during the arrest.</p><p>«<em>Speaking of which…what day is today?</em>» she asked loud as if someone could reply. Ryoko observed the monitor next to the plate where the floor buttons were placed: "Sunday 1<sup>st</sup> August 2004".</p><p>«<em>I…I stood in that room…for three days?!</em> <em>It felt an eternity</em>…»</p><p>A *ding* from the elevator's speaker warned Ryoko she was arrived at the 28<sup>th</sup> floor and when the doors opened she found Gynos in front of her.</p><p>«<em>Those mechanical things are really slow</em>»</p><p>"Well Gynos, it would be a lot easier if anyone could walk and fly through walls like you do" she thought while looking at him. Ryoko couldn’t reply but her stern face told the Shinigami how stupid he was with that phrase.</p><p>«<em>Sorry girl</em>»</p><p>In the moment Ryoko stepped outside the elevator, another one reached that exact floor. She panicked when she recognised Matsuda's voice.</p><p>«<em>Damn those boxes were heavy…my back hurts</em>» when he walked away from the elevator he was massaging his back. Shortly after, his attention was caught by an opened door. "Why is that elevator door still open?" he questioned to himself but soon he shrugged and walked away. Probably someone called two elevators and then they took the first one, leaving that one available.</p><p>Ryoko, hidden behind a cleaning cart, watched Matsuda walking away from the lift and she silently followed him, maintaining a good distance from him. She saw the older detective entering a double wooden door then he immediately closed it.</p><p>«<em>It's the suite…of course it's the suite</em>» she whispered, her eyes still focused on the door. She could sense her blood boiling from anger because on the other side of that door there was L, the main responsible of her nightmares and agony. However, she wasn’t unsure what to do. Matsuda talked about heavy boxes…were they moving the HQ somewhere else?</p><p>Suddenly, that same door spread out and Ryoko heard many steps coming close to her. "Watari warned L". She quickly hid and three men (Hideki Ide, Soichiro Yagami and Aizawa) speeded in front of Ryoko's hideout to rush towards the elevators. The raven girl waited until the three of them were inside the elevator to come out and walking closer to the door.</p><p>Luckily it was a bit opened and Ryoko could sneak inside without being in plain sight.</p><p>«<em>How did she manage to knock out Watari and then escape?</em>» Light asked L. Ryoko noticed the two were handcuffed (as Gynos said).</p><p>L didn’t reply, he was more focused on the tapes. He was watching the fight between Ryoko and Watari and in the moment the girl knocked out Watari, Light hissed in pain as if it was him who got kicked instead of the old man.</p><p>«<em>She knows how to box</em>…» commented Matsuda behind them, he was watching the tapes too.</p><p>«<em>It's called Savate, Matsuda-san</em>» the feminine voice of Ryoko echoed from behind the three of them. Everyone turned their heads towards her, surprised to see her with them.</p><p>«<em>R-Ryoko-san…I</em>-» Matsuda, for some reason, wanted to explain (and maybe to apologise) about the situation the raven hared girl was forced to experience, but Ryoko stopped him by raising a hand.  She saw pain and guilt in his sad features.</p><p>«<em>Ah Miss, I see you escaped the special cell I organised for you personally. I hope you understand it was necessary for</em>-» L started to say but suddenly.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>SLAP</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>Light and Matsuda were shocked (and deep down amused) by that sudden gesture. Ryoko slapped L! And he didn’t react!</p><p>«<em>This was for the grades</em>…» she told him. L brought his non handcuffed hand on his face, where he was slapped; his messy black locks covered most of his face making difficult to say what he was feeling.</p><p>«<em>How dare you</em>…» Ryoko spoke with cold, sharp voice. Despite she was boiling, she didn’t let her emotion break her composure up. «<em>I said how dare you…to put me in that room. No human has the right to do such a thing to anyone else. And even if I was Kira you absolutely did not understand how their mind would work. It would not fail this easily. Torture solves nothing. I would slap you until I see blood if that would bring me back the hours of sleep I lost</em>».</p><p>L didn’t reply either. He could sense the warmth on his face caused by the slap under his hand. «<em>I underestimated you, Miss. Putting you in that room and making you believe you were not worth enough for this world…I hoped you would call desperately my name. I wanted you to beg…to beg for your freedom</em>» he finally looked at her, his face neutral and expressionless as always. A tiny red print of a hand on his left cheek was the only trace of colour on his pale skin.</p><p>«<em>But again…I underestimated you. You're slier, smarter and more adamant than I thought</em>» he locked his gaze with Ryoko, dark, dull eyes met light chocolate ones. Neither of them wanted to break it. In the meantime, Soichiro, Aizawa and Ide came back (with Watari behind them). They were going to say something but at Ryoko's sight they stopped.</p><p>«<em>And you guys even accepted to do nothing in front of that! Even if he is the great L, has he the right to do such things? Can you even consider yourselves human anymore?</em>» she continued to argue, now looking straight at Soichiro since he was the Police Chief.</p><p>Everyone felt silent, not even L or Light said a word. It was as if all of them were frozen in place. Something in her gaze, so full of anger, made everyone shut up, creating a tense atmosphere. Eventually it was L himself who broke said silence.</p><p>«<em>However, I regret informing you that I still plan to do further investigations about you. Meaning you will be under surveillance like Misa Amane</em>»</p><p>Ryoko ignored him and walked towards the wooden door but before leaving it she turned towards the other men and said with venomous voice. «<em>You disgust me</em>» and then she left.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>·················•·················•</p><p>The Japanese Task-Force HQ: located in an undisclosed location in Tokyo, the building had twenty-three floors aboveground and two floors belowground; there was a helipad on the roof of the building, though the structure was designed so that the helipad and the two helicopters on it couldn’t be seen by those looking at the building from the exterior. The building's interior included rooms such as offices, lounging areas, and monitoring areas. Elevators allowed for easier access throughout the structure.</p><p>Since Ryoko was still a suspect, she had to stay at the HQ with L, Light and few others. At least she could see her family; when she came back home she hugged everyone and they were quite surprised in seeing her so emotional.</p><p>«<em>How was the trip dear?</em>» her mother, Hoso Koike, asked her.</p><p>«<em>Sis, you don’t look so good</em>»</p><p>Trip? Ah yes, that must be the excuse L used to justify Ryoko's absence from home. That bastard.</p><p>«<em>I didn’t sleep well, the other guys were so loud</em>» she lied to them, unfortunately. She couldn’t tell she was imprisoned by the world's greatest detective because she was suspected to be a mass murderer.</p><p>«<em>Have some sleep dear, you look exhausted</em>» Hoso suggested her and Ryoko was happy to accomplish. She slept for the next twenty-four hours. An entire day sleeping. It was already 3<sup>rd</sup> August when she woke up feeling a lot better. She spent the rest of the day with her family as she never did it before.</p><p>"God, how I missed this…" she thought smiling, unaware someone was watching her through the cameras that were still at her home.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ AT THE HEADQUARTERS ♰</strong>
</p><p>L was deep in thought. So focused on the image of Ryoko in the screen in front of him. He was still amazed by how she defeated Watari few days ago at the White room. Was it a tactic or did she really had…enough? If she wanted to escape she could easily walk away from the hotel; her father worked at Tokyo, she would come back with him eventually. But why did she stay? Just to slap L?</p><p>"She is for sure the other Kira, I'm 80% certain of it. However, the deaths at Yokohama continued even after her arrest…" he though while chewing his thumb in a nervous gesture.</p><p>«<em>Ryuzaki, if you continue like this you'll hurt yourself</em>» Light scolded him, he was watching the cameras with the detective.</p><p>«<em>Don’t worry about it, Light-kun</em>» he almost forgot the chain that connected him to the Yagami boy.</p><p>«<em>What do you plan to do with her?</em>»</p><p>Good question. «<em>Unlike you, Light-kun, she seems not so wishful to clean her name from any suspicion. However, I'm not feeling motivated enough about the case</em>»</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ BACK AT YOKOHAMA ♰</strong>
</p><p>Eriko and Ryoko were taking a relaxing walk. Despite being August the air at Yokohama was not so much sultry. The sun scorched a lot that day but the wind was fresh.</p><p>«<em>Tell me, Ikki…did you meet someone at the trip as hot as today?</em>∼» Eriko asked with a mischievous smile.</p><p>For some reason the image of L after her slap, with his messy hair that covered partially his face popped up in her head. She tried to think at someone else. «<em>You know who? Misa Amane</em>»</p><p>«<em>Gyaah! No way!</em>» Eriko started to squeal like a fangirl, asking Ryoko tons of questions about her favourite idol. She continued like that for the next hour but Ryoko didn’t mind; on the contrary, she found her rather cute. She spent three endless days in a white room without stimulations and social interactions, Ryoko couldn’t wish nothing more that Eriko's cute yells in that moment.</p><p>Luckily, they were in vacation from school those days <strong>(A/N: the Japanese school year begins in April and ends in March and is divided into three semesters. For most elementary, junior high, and high school students, summer vacation lasts from July 20 through August 31)</strong> and the two girls could spend entire afternoons for themselves. However, Ryoko had no vacations: actually, L told her that he had to keep an eye on her so maybe he will never remove the cameras from her house.</p><p>«<em>It seems I have to take your Death Note for a little more then…you're lucky that cake-addicted didn’t find the book when he placed the cameras</em>» Gynos commented once during Ryoko's shopping at the conbini (<strong>A/N: Conbini / Konbini: typical Japanese low-cost supermarkets opened 24/7</strong>). Ryoko always wondered where he would stay to kill people in place of her. «<em>I cannot stay too much far away from you. I chose dark alleys, preferably near a jumbotron so I can see faces and names of criminals</em>» </p><p>It was fair, that plan could keep going for a while. Moreover, it seemed a new Kira appeared in the scene so L would be more focus in that one rather than on Ryoko. Or so she hoped.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ TIME SKIP ♰</strong>
</p><p>Ryoko had access to L's special facility because she was in the database, so when she went there because L wanted to talk to her it was not difficult going through the many security devices: fingers and retina scans, security doors, metal detectors and so on.</p><p>Once inside the building she was surrounded by FBI agents coming from different parts of the world, all hired by L to catch Kira.</p><p>"Dedication…or a lot of money?" she thought while observing her surroundings. Everything was grey, no decoration so far. That was pretty boring, not even a plant in those corridors.</p><p>The only coloured things were Ryoko's clothes: denim shorts, a pair of red suspenders, light yellow gilet, a short sleeved shirt and sneakers.</p><p>During her walk Ryoko lost her sense of direction: those corridors were all the same for her. After the umpteenth corner, she bumped into someone.</p><p>«<em>Oh I'm sorry!</em>» she quickly apologised but her gaze darkened when she saw Watari.</p><p>«<em>Good morning, Miss Koike. Are you lost?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Hello Watari-san…actually yes, Ryuzaki wanted to see me but I don’t know where to go</em>» she told him, observing carefully his movements. Since the period in the White room, her reflexes were much more sensible than before.</p><p>«<em>Ryuzaki is waiting for you in the monitoring room, Miss. Follow the hallway then turn right, there's only one door</em>»</p><p>Ryoko nodded, crossing her arms. «<em>Thank you, Watari</em>» He nodded back and walked beyond her to return at his duties.</p><p>The raven haired girl walked away as well but something stopped her. «<em>Ah Watari-san</em>…» this made the old man stop as well. «<em>I'm sorry for the fight the other day…I hope I didn’t break anything</em>»</p><p>«<em>Don’t worry Miss. You were careful enough not to break any of these old bones. Despite the amount of stress, your body fought well</em>»</p><p>«<em>I'm glad to hear that</em>…» she walked again towards the monitoring room, Watari's steps were far away from her in that moment. She opened the door and the structure left out of breath: a main computer monitoring panel which resided in between the two long side stairways, the colour of the hall had a turquoise shade and the hall had a minor outer space look to it. Much like the rest of the building, that room was empty of any decoration.</p><p>«<em>Good morning everyone</em>» she greeted the task-force. They greeted her back but soon their smile was replaced by a guilty expression. They must have recalled Ryoko's speech back at the hotel.</p><p>«<em>Hello</em>» for the first time she could take a good look at the Yagami boy: a young man, standing at above average height with light-brown hair and brown eyes. Now Ryoko understood why girls fantasized about him, he was clearly a good looking boy. «<em>We didn’t introduce yet…I'm Light Yagami, kanji of "yoru" (</em>夜 <em>night), "kamic" from "kamisama (</em>神 <em>god) and Light is written as "tsuki" (</em>月 <em>moon)</em>» he extended his non handcuffed hand.</p><p>«<em>Real name</em>» Gynos confirmed from behind Ryoko. She shook Light's hand and smiled at him. «<em>Nice to meet you, Yagami-kun. You may call me…Asami</em>» she decided to use an alias if she had to stay at the HQ. If Light was truly the first Kira, she didn’t want to risk giving him her true name.</p><p>«<em>Uhm…alright Asami-san</em>» Light replied a bit confused, neither L nor the task-force argued with her choice. Shortly after that he summarised the recent events on the investigations (since she was a member of the task-force): from mid-June a new Kira appeared in the scene and since neither Light nor Misa were Kira, they were released from the arrest («<em>We stood there for 50 days, you know?</em>» Light added during his explanation). In the meantime, this new Kira kept reaping victims but they didn’t find a link yet. Moreover, there was L's depression.</p><p>«<em>Are you depressed, Ryuzaki?</em>» Ryoko asked him, truly surprised. How could someone as L being depressed? And why?</p><p>«<em>Yeah</em>…» he replied from his seat, his voice was sad and gloomy. Even his face, always so plain and emotionless, had a hint of sorrow in its features.</p><p>«<em>But why?</em>»</p><p>He turned with his metallic swivel chair to look at Ryoko, the chain that connected him with Light clinked faintly. «<em>I concluded Kira's powers pass through people, making it almost impossible to catch them</em>»</p><p>«<em>That's why he is so overwhelmed</em>» Light shrugged and sat beside L.</p><p>«<em>But tell me, Asami-san…what do you think of Kira?</em>» L asked after a while, his eyes still glued on Ryoko as if he wanted to say "What do you think of <span class="u">yourself</span>" instead.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Deal</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>(A/N: From now on Ryoko = Asami and vice versa)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>«<em>But tell me, Asami-chan…what do you think of Kira?</em>»</p><p>"What do I think? That it could be easier if you weren’t here"</p><p>«<em>Well, if we look at the facts, dear L, I can say that Kira is saving humanity from fear and despair. Until now, they only killed criminals and people with controversial pasts. However, I don’t think they could be portrayed as a hero or as a villain either: they are using what they are capable of to do what's the best for mankind. Maybe people trust more Kira than you because, L, Kira had concrete results, obtained something people can see…said results you didn’t give to the task-force during these investigations</em>» </p><p>Ryoko knew she managed to convince the task-force because they were looking at each other with concern. However, L's eyes darkened as if, with that look, he wanted to yell out loud "You're Kira, just say it".</p><p>«<em>It's an interesting point of view, Asami-chan. Please, would you follow me? I want to talk to you in private</em>» L got up and dragging Light with him, he left the main room. She followed them shortly after wondering if there was a "private place" in that building.</p><p>During the walk, Ryoko took a look at the two boys: despite his slouched posture, L was as tall as Light (around 179 cm (5' 10½") maybe); however, Light had a bit more muscles than the detective and even the skin tone was slightly different. Ryoko had to stop the impulse to look at their respective rear ends. Ah, if she was clumsy with people: if she was in group maybe she could have enough courage to speak and to stand for herself (like before with the task-force and when she slapped L); but alone, with one or two people…there came the problems.</p><p>Ryoko was so immersed in her thought that she didn’t notice L and Light stopped and she bumped into the detective's back. For less than a second, her nostrils were full of strawberry scent mixed with other sweet smells. Ryoko stepped back a little and looked up at L, who was staring back, and she smiled nervously.</p><p>«<em>Sorry</em>…» she apologised quickly but L didn’t stop staring. «<em>Did I…hurt you?</em>»</p><p>«<em>No Asami-chan, don’t worry</em>» L turned and opened the door revealing a fancy lounge with couches, armchairs, a television and a bar. He let Ryoko enter first so he would close the door behind them.</p><p>Ryoko walked towards one of the couches and sat down. "Aw, so comfy…damn I want this in my room" she thought while caressing the soft material of the couch. In the meantime, L and Light sat one beside the other on another couch; in the middle a coffee table separated Ryoko's sofa from L and Light's one.</p><p>Despite they were there to speak, none of them said a word. Light was relaxing on the couch, eyes closed and arms behind the head; L was staring intensely at Ryoko while she was looking at her surroundings. She would distract herself with anything in order not to think about L's stare.</p><p>"She couldn't stand at someone's gaze on her for too long…being alone with less than five people made her feel uncomfortable too. A peculiar behaviour for a mass murderer" L thought while focusing on the raven haired girl. Until that moment, he never observed his suspect so close: very long, straight black hair; once a fringe, a lock of hair covered her forehead and part of her thin eyebrows; a little paler than Light but same toned body, meaning she practiced many sports; her done up appearance and posture suggested her family education was very important. However, L was not interested in her gestures in that moment: he observed her eyes' form and colour, a pleasant light chocolate shade which reminded him milk coffee; or he focused on her facial features, the delicate curves of the nose and jawline made her look like a porcelain doll.</p><p>His thoughts were interrupted by Light that thanked Watari for something. Once L was mentally again in the lounge he noticed Watari brought cake for everyone. Ryoko thanked him too before he could leave the room.</p><p>«<em>Asami-chan, I heard you attend the Higashi University…is it difficult as people say?»</em> Light had enough of that silence so he started a random conversation with the girl.</p><p>«<em>No university is difficult if you study. However, I have to admit sometimes teachers are better in stressing students than actual teach</em>» Ryoko took the plate with the cake and ate it gladly. That day Tokyo was terribly hot and humid, that cake was a relief.</p><p>«<em>Asami-chan</em>…» L interrupted a potential interesting conversation with his sad voice. «<em>Please, listen to me now</em>»</p><p>Ryoko turned towards him, her mouth full of cake. Once L obtained her attention, he continued to speak. «<em>I wanted to talk about the investigation with you. Since you helped me with Naomi Misora's death, I would really appreciate your collaboration once again</em>»</p><p>«<em>Ah really? Now I'm useful to you? First you put me in the White room for three days and now you expect me to help you?</em>» she asked him with a hint of venom in her voice. However, L ignored it.</p><p>«<em>It was a test, Asami-chan. I needed to prove you aren’t Kira…and if I can trust you</em>»</p><p>«<em>You don’t trust anyone regardless of the results of your tests, Ryuzaki</em>»</p><p>Light choked a bit while eating his cake, trying to stop laughing. He pretended nothing happened and kept eating.</p><p>«<em>About the investigations…Light-kun already told you about this new Kira that appeared not long ago. Since you and Light-kun were quite shrewd and clever, I need your abilities for this case…with a condition</em>» once again, L ignored Ryoko's previous reply.</p><p>«<em>A condition?</em>» both Light and Ryoko asked at the same time.</p><p>«<em>Indeed. If you accept, I'll set aside your dossier…Asami-chan</em>. <em>For the time of the investigations, I'll pretend to forget you're Kira</em>»</p><p>L was looking at her with a piercing gaze, deeply focused in her reactions. Meanwhile, Ryoko was deep in thought too: if she accepted the deal, would it be a sort of incriminating admission? The look on L's face suggested her he was serious, so he meant what he said. However, the doubt was still there. She couldn’t be sure he would respect that deal but, at the same time, she needed him to distract from her case.</p><p>«<em>And when the investigations will be over, what will you do?</em>» she asked him, putting the empty plate on the coffee table in front of her.</p><p>«<em>If we succeed in catching this Kira, it wouldn’t be difficult finding evidences against you, Light-kun and Misa Amane…especially if the pattern is the same</em>»</p><p>«<em>So you'll arrest us anyway!</em>» Light uttered shocked, looking worried at L. The detective didn’t move a muscle, his attention was still on Ryoko.</p><p>«<em>I said "if we succeed"…</em>» his tone was once again full of sorrow. Ryoko wondered if he was sincere or not.</p><p>«<em>Well, I'll make sure we'll succeed then. And me and Light will prove you we aren’t involved in all this</em>» Ryoko finally replied, searching Light's approval look.</p><p>The Yagami boy nodded happily. «<em>You're right, Asami-chan! We can catch Kira!</em>»</p><p>«<em>That's what I wanted to hear</em>» L added shortly after.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>·················•·················•</p><p>That was the beginning of the official collaboration between L, Light and Ryoko. Well, especially Light since he had no other choice because of the handcuffs. Although, Misa was quite happy to see another girl in the task-force. The atmosphere came back to normal (despite Ryoko would never forget the period in the White room while none of them did anything), everyone was almost enthusiastic to work there.</p><p>In the meantime, Ryoko had to study for university too. So when she had a bit of free time she could focus on the investigation with the others. L gave her a room at the HQ so she could study without interruptions (and he could keep an eye on her too). From time to time, Misa Amane would come at the building to say hi to Light, her boyfriend (despite Light didn’t quite agree).</p><p>«<em>You know, Misa-Misa, I'm almost jealous that you have Matsuda-san all for yourself</em>» Ryoko once joked during a break in a lounge (where L and Light had a fight days ago). Matsuda, who was watching the girls from the monitoring room, became a blush mess and Aizawa chuckled at that.</p><p>«<em>Wah don’t tell me you like him!</em>»  </p><p>«<em>He's the youngest in the task-force and the only one who is genuinely himself…and I appreciate it</em>»</p><p>«<em>So you're lying or hiding something</em>∼»</p><p>At the monitoring room, the initial L's lack of interest of that conversation was soon replaced by vivid concern and he came closer with his swivel chair to the screen where the imagines of Ryoko and Misa were displayed.</p><p>Ryoko sighed. «<em>What I'm saying is that I tend to have a different behaviour when I'm in group or alone</em>»</p><p>Misa was thinking about something. «<em>What do you mean?</em>»</p><p>"God, really?" Ryoko thought. «<em>With others I can appear confident and sure of myself but the truth is that groups make me feel nervous, I prefer to speak to one or two people. Even at school, despite I did many sports and clubs I barely spoke to anyone in my class…well, people in general tend to avoid speaking to me</em>»</p><p>«<em>Waah?! It's awful!</em>»</p><p>«<em>I know</em>» Ryoko placed on the coffee table her empty cup of tea. «<em>But I'm used to it</em>»</p><p>The two girls kept talking about random stuff and again L's interest dropped and he started to observe Light's researches about the new Kira.</p><p>«<em>Is it true you slapped Ryuzaki?</em>» Misa asked surprised as if that thought popped out in her mind like a flash.</p><p>«<em>Could you say it again?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Uhm…you slapped Ryuzaki?</em>» Misa repeated a bit unsure.</p><p><em>«More you say it and funnier it sounds» Ryoko</em> elegantly ate a cookie from the plate on the coffee table, knowing someone behind the cameras laughed for sure. She could only image L's annoyed face at her phrase.</p><p>However, those kind of breaks were rare, at least for Ryoko. Because of her incarceration she missed a couple of exams at university so during those vacations she had to study twice hard for the new semester which would start in October. But it was still August so Ryoko had plenty of time to study for the new and old courses.</p><p>Many weeks passed and the cohabitation with L was still difficult to swallow. Ryoko felt permanently observed and judged by people and cameras strewn around the building.  And despite the deal she did with L, she had the feeling it was just a trap or something meaningless.</p><p>One humid night at Tokyo, Ryoko had a nightmare. Since she was free again she had a lot of bad dreams about her arrest. She would dream that room, feeling the same loneliness and the same neglect. Ryoko sighed and looked at her clock: 3:27am.</p><p>"I slept four hours…" she thought and sighed again. Gynos was not with her so she decided to walk around the HQ. Since her experience in the White room she had a strange feeling about bedrooms, she couldn’t bear staying for too long there anymore. Maybe time will heal that wound but it was far from now.</p><p>Ryoko took the pillow and a blanket and went around the HQ searching for a room to sleep. Maybe one of the many lounges or an empty office: everything but bedrooms.</p><p>She kept searching for a while, the clock struck 3:50am. Ryoko wanted to give a last chance to the door at her right and she opened it. She was surprised in seeing L and Light there working (actually only L was at his laptop, Light was snoring on the couch).</p><p>«<em>Oh Ryuzaki…I thought you were in the monitoring room</em>»</p><p>L looked away from the bright screen, his dark pools met Ryoko's one for a long stare. «<em>Light-kun was tired so I suggested to let him sleep here</em>»</p><p>«<em>Right uhm…goodnight then</em>» Ryoko was going to leave the room but L stopped her immediately.</p><p>«<em>I don’t think you'll find another suitable room, Asami-chan…well, except your own bedroom of course</em>» if there was something Ryoko really enjoyed about L was his voice: his Japanese was so good and the tone was a mix between a teenager and an adult (<strong>A/N: I'm talking about the original Japanese voice</strong>). She had to admit she would listen to him for hours, that voice was so relaxing.</p><p>«<em>You can sleep here, if you want</em>» he gestured with his non handcuffed hand the couch where he was sitting. He was actually crouched at the end of it because the handcuffs' chains were not so long and Light could sleep without many problems.</p><p>«<em>Ah…thank you</em>» Ryoko was too tired to argue back so she accepted his offer. She put the pillow against the couch' armrest and lay down, her covered feet faced L (who was focused again at his laptop).</p><p>However, despite the calm atmosphere (interrupted sometimes by L's tapping on the keyboard), Ryoko couldn’t sleep yet. It was not because of his presence (she was used to sleep with other people during sleepovers with Eriko) or because of the lights, always turned on. L must have noticed it because he turned slightly to look at her: terrified eyes glued on the couch' seatback, shaking body and heavy breath. However, for someone not careful enough, you could say she was fine.</p><p>«<em>Asami-chan?</em>» he called her but she seemed she couldn’t hear him. So he called her again…and one more time and Ryoko still wasn’t answering. Then L decided to touch her foot to catch her attention; she snapped back into the real world and looked at L (with his hand still on her foot).</p><p>Ryoko saw a sort of "questioning gaze" from L and sighed. «<em>Sorry…it's just…still difficult for me to fall asleep peacefully</em>»</p><p>«<em>There's no need to apologise…actually, I understand what you mean</em>»</p><p>«<em>I don’t think so</em>» she buried herself under the blanket, ignoring L for the rest of the night.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ TIME SKIP ♰</strong>
</p><p>Ryoko noticed that situations like that occurred more and more often as days passed. She would find L and Light in same lounge, in the same couches and in the same positions. At first, she ignored L and his efforts to start a conversation (she couldn’t understand why he should talk to her if not to ask questions about the case). However, she noticed that his arguments were really informal: musicals, his favourite museums, how he disliked amusements parks and so on. It must be another test for sure.</p><p>Another humid and hot night at Tokyo. Luckily L's HQ had a good aeration system so the occupants would not suffer the high temperature of Tokyo's summer. And again, Ryoko was with L and Light (well, he was actually sleeping) in the lounge.</p><p>«<em>Ehy Ryuzaki</em>…» she called him but received no answer. «<em>You once said you know what it feels like not to sleep because of nightmares</em>…»</p><p>«<em>Yes, I recall that conversation…you ignored me after that</em>»</p><p>«<em>What did you mean by that?</em>»</p><p>L fell silent for the second time. Yeah, what did he mean by that? Did you want the truth? Well, L said it impulsively: for once, he didn’t think about his answer. No tricks, no tests, no riddles: his statement was simple and sincere. He hated himself because of it, he never answered impulsively.</p><p>«<em>Sometimes…it happens to me too. Having nightmares, I mean. The few times I remember what my REM phase elaborated they were terrible images</em>»</p><p>«<em>That's why you have those bags?</em>»</p><p>«<em>I suppose</em>»</p><p>The room was silent again, only Light's soft snoring was audible. Ryoko took a moment to observe L's figure: slim body, pale skin that almost matched his white shirt, all crouched in his "normal" sitting position; his toes were curled so they would grab the couch's fabric in what seemed to be a tight grip; his handcuffed hand, with its long and slender fingers, tapped every once in a while the keyboard of his laptop and the chain would make a quiet metallic sound (like Gynos' gothic rings), the other hand was placed on the knee; his physical appearance was a mix between Asian and European features.</p><p>«<em>What are reading, Ryuzaki?</em>»  she asked him after a while.</p><p>«<em>It's the autopsy report of one of Kira's last victim. It's curious how those people had a perfect medical chart, not even a cavity, but then suddenly they</em>-» he stopped talking because he felt something heavy against his leg. L turned and saw that Ryoko changed position on the couch: now the pillow was placed against him, her body curled up in a ball under the blanket. The heavy thing that he sensed against the leg was Ryoko's head. However, he didn’t push her away.</p><p>«<em>Yes? Suddenly what?</em>» she asked him with a tired voice. L knew she would fall asleep any minute.</p><p>«<em>They</em>…» he took a moment to analyse the situation: he was there, a prime suspect sleeping on the couch and the other one almost in the arms of Morpheus next to him; both of them were Kira and both of them wanted L dead; he had solid beliefs both about Light and Ryoko. However, L heard something click in his mind. Was he getting sick? He never fell ill in his life, impossible. So…what was that?</p><p>«<em>They died inexplicably. In great detail Mr. Takeyoshi Moriya</em>…» L pushed away those thought, letting Ryoko fall asleep with the sound of his voice.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. The metro</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>30<sup>th</sup> august 2004. Luckily, days started to become colder and Ryoko needed new clothes for the freezing winter at University. That morning she woke up a bit early (and in her house at Yokohama), outside it was sunrise. The first shy, pink rays coloured her bedroom with the same colour shade.</p><p>«<em>Good morning, girl</em>» Gynos was staring at her from the desk. «<em>Did you sleep well?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Mmhh∼</em>…» Ryoko complained, blaming herself because she wanted to sleep more. Then she scratched her messy black hair and climbed down from her bunk bed. As the Shinigami used to do with her, he patted her head in a gentle manner, just to see her smile.</p><p>«<em>I miss the HQ's queen sized bed…</em>» she told quietly with her raspy morning voice. At this point, Gynos was used to that kind of conversations since Ryoko could not answer directly to him because of the cameras in her house. So he didn’t argue when she didn’t reply at his question.  </p><p>«<em>It's pretty early, no one is awake</em>»</p><p>«<em>First: shower…then breakfast</em>»</p><p>Ryoko took a very long, hot shower before changing in more comfortable clothes and having breakfast. That day she wanted to go shopping at Kawasaki (<strong>A/N: Kawasaki is the 8<sup>th</sup> most populated city in Japan, less than 20km far away from Yokohama</strong>), at the shopping centre: sales started a few days ago and she wanted to freshen up her wardrobe. Moreover, a new mall opened there and she wanted to take a look at the new shops.</p><p>It was 7am when Ryoko went to the kitchen and arrange a frugal meal: a plentiful plate of muesli and orange juice. She prepared the coffee machine for her mother and went back to her bedroom to put on makeup and to wash the teeth.</p><p>At 7.30am she was ready. She decided to wear nothing excessive: a simple no sleeve yellow shirt, a long, white and green striped skirt and black sneakers. Ryoko tied her hair too and then left her house, leading towards the train station. She hoped to find something interesting (and cute) at the shopping centre, she loved comfy and poofy clothes on winter.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ TIME SKIP ♰</strong>
</p><p>Here there was: "The Humble Kettle". That shopping centre caught everyone's attention not only because of the strange name but because it was <strong>immense</strong>. And by "immense" I mean it: with more than 2000 m<sup>2</sup> you can easily get lost. However, thanks to the many panels and maps you could find the exit with the same ease you got lost.</p><p>Two entire hours (and many jumpers) later, Ryoko was feeling a certain languor but it was too early for lunch so she decided to buy two melon buns (<strong>A/N: a type of sweet bun from Japan, China and Taiwan. They are made from an enriched dough covered in a thin layer of crisp cookie dough. Their appearance resembles a melon, such as a rock melon</strong>.): one chocolate flavoured and the other black cherry flavoured.</p><p>«<em>Girl! Is that…a sort of casino?!</em>» Ryoko almost suffocated with her own melon bun when she heard Gynos' voice so close to her ears. She turned and saw a large neon sign: "Starcade Game Junction".</p><p>She mumbled something that sounded like «<em>No, it's an amusement arcade</em>» </p><p>«<em>Let's go! I wanna play!</em>» the Shinigami flew towards it, people unaware that a God of Death was passing through them. Ryoko sighed, unsure if she had to follow Gynos or not. Few minutes later she decided to go with him, for once she could please him with that. After all, he did so much for her since his arrival on Earth…she could grant him that wish.</p><p>Ryoko had to admit that place was huge and colourful: there were a lot of old-fashioned games, claw cranes, dance games, photo booths and so on; the place was decorated with many neon lights and vintage signs and the floor had a wall-to-wall carpeting that softened each step. Despite Gynos could not physically play, he found out new and entertaining games he could do with other Shinigami back on his Realm.</p><p>The raven haired girl almost finished the black cherry melon bun when she caught sight of someone familiar. «<em>Could it be</em>…» she walked closer to the figure and she was right! «<em>Matsuda!</em>»</p><p>She saw him froze in place then he turned, a surprised blushing expression on his face. «<em>A-Asami-chan! W-What are you doing here?</em>»</p><p>Ryoko looked at him with a soft gaze. «<em>Mostly shopping…and you? Is it you day off, Matsuda-san?</em>»</p><p>His face turned even redder when he saw how gently she was looking at him. He swallowed hard. «<em>Yes…I</em>…» he took a deep breath then continued. «<em>I came at Kawasaki to see my parents</em>»</p><p>«<em>I hope they are fine</em>»</p><p>«<em>Yeah, they are…thank you for your concern Asami-chan</em>» (<strong>A/N: just to be clear, Matsuda is 5 years older than Ryoko</strong>).</p><p>Ryoko stuck out the head to look over Matsuda's shoulder: he was playing with a claw crane trying to win something. «<em>Did you win?</em>»</p><p>Matsuda sighed defeated, maybe he hoped Ryoko wouldn’t notice. «<em>Yeah…I'm not even good at this</em>» he laughed nervously, scratching his black hair. Despite he was laughing, Ryoko could sense how demoralized he was.</p><p>«<em>There's a secret to win at those machines</em>» she told him a good and always efficient way to win something at the claw crane. Two attempts later Matsuda managed to win not one but two prizes.</p><p>«<em>Asami-chan! Did you see? I won!</em>» Matsuda was smiling happily again, hugging his two plushes: one was Fron-ta, the official dolphin mascot of Kawasaki Frontale, a Japanese Football team (<strong>A/N: in Japan it's very common having a mascot for those things</strong>) and the other one was Cabrera, a sort of white marshmallow with a blue crown and blue sneakers (a mascot too).</p><p>«<em>Excellent work, Matsuda</em>» she smiled at his cuteness (<strong>A/N: precious Matsuda</strong>). He showed her his two plushes and together they left the amusement arcade.</p><p>«<em>Thank you Asami-chan…you made my day</em>»</p><p>«<em>Are you…going away? Already?</em>» despite how L treated him at work, Ryoko really enjoyed Matsuda's company. When she told Misa how she appreciated Matsuda's goofy yet cute attitude she was sincere. So when he said that he was going to go back home she was a bit sad.</p><p>«<em>Well uhm…even if today is my day off…I think I'll go back at the HQ to work a bit</em>» he replied, a sympathetic smile on him.</p><p>«<em>Nuh-uh, sorry Matsuda</em>» Ryoko placed the hands on her hips and looked at him with a disapproval look. «<em>Since Ryuzaki believes I'm a cruel criminal, I decided to kidnap you</em>»</p><p>«<em>Ki-Kidnap me?</em>» now he was truly scared.</p><p>«<em>Exactly. From now on you're my hostage and we're going to have some fun together. No work today…and don’t try to negotiate with me</em>» Ryoko winked then grimaced at him. It was useless to say how deep red was his face, almost matching his red jacket.</p><p>«<em>And now, dear hostage, let's go</em>» Ryoko took him by the arm towards their next shop, both of them chuckling in joy.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ TIME SKIP ♰</strong>
</p><p>Both Ryoko and Matsuda spent a wonderful day together. They played, ate and took a good walk around the shopping centre. The two of them talked about everything and anything, mostly about their hobbies; Ryoko learnt how Matsuda loved watching cooking shows despite being a disaster in the kitchen and that he really wanted to learn how to play a classic guitar. However, his job as detective stopped him in almost everything.</p><p>«<em>You know, Asami-chan…despite what Ryuzaki says about you, I don’t believe him</em>»</p><p>«<em>Uh?</em>»</p><p>«<em>I don’t believe a single word about you being Kira…that's insane!</em>» he said all concerned and a bit angry. However, his anger immediately disappeared when he felt Ryoko's warm hand on his shoulder.</p><p>«<em>Thank you Matsuda…I'm glad someone believes me. I thought I was the only one</em>»</p><p>«<em>Oh no Asami-chan! Everyone at the HQ believes you, I swear!</em>» he quickly replied.</p><p>Ryoko smiled at him, so sweet. «<em>Thank you, Matsuda-san</em>»</p><p>"Ah Ryoko, such a liar" Gynos thought and chuckled from behind them.</p><p>It was already 5pm and Ryoko needed to go home. Matsuda offered to go with her because it was getting dark and he didn’t want her to walk back home all alone. She accepted the offer and together they went to the Metro station. Once inside, Ryoko and Matsuda chose two seats one next to each other so they would keep chatting even inside the train.</p><p>The place was crowded but the silence reigned among the passengers. Matsuda and Ryoko exchanged quiet rumours and gossip. After a while, around 5.45pm, the metro stopped because few passengers had to climb in, all men dressed in black as salarymen. After a while, one of them walked away inside the metro as to change wagon and almost five minutes later it stopped abruptly. Many people looked around with confused faces wondering what was happening.</p><p>Suddenly, three men brought from inside their coats a bunch of guns, rifles, knives and tasers. The passengers cried and yelled terrorized and the men, to maintain the silence, fired few shots towards the metallic ceiling of the wagon.</p><p>«<em>Everyone just shut up!</em>» one of the men said, he had a long rifle in his hands.</p><p>«<em>If you keep quiet and do as we say, nobody will die today</em>» another one continued. </p><p>Matsuda, maybe out of instinct, used his body to protect Ryoko. In a short period of time, all the passengers were hostages (this time for real) of four armed people.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ MEANWHILE ♰</strong>
</p><p>Ryuzaki was working with Light at the computer, as usual. He admitted that Light was very smart: if he wasn’t a mass murderer, L would think to hire him in his team. He was typing something on the keyboard, the chain of the handcuffs clinked softly against the desk. Suddenly, Watari entered the room.</p><p>«<em>L, turn on the TV. Something is happening</em>»</p><p>Ryuzaki and the rest of the task force reunited around L's chair to watch the television and a young journalist was explaining the latest news: «<em>Yes, thanks Tanaka-san. I'm not much far from the Kawasaki Metro Station where almost ten minutes ago an entire train with many passengers were taken hostage by an unknown number of people. According to our latest indiscretions, they talk only with the mayor and they demand three million yen as ransom within an hour or they will kill a hostage for each minute of delay</em>»</p><p>«<em>Something similar happened with Raye Penber</em>…» Aizaka pointed out looking at the TV.</p><p>«<strong><em>Why wasn’t I informed about this?!</em></strong>» Ryuzaki "snapped" in his monotone voice yet full of anger. In that exact moment Soichiro Yagami rushed inside the room.</p><p>«<em>L</em>…» he said weakly, his phone still in his hands next to the ear.</p><p>«<em>Yagami-san! Reporting!</em>» L ordered him; everyone was scared about his change of behaviour.</p><p>«<em>Well ah…the mayor told me they demanded a ransom for the freedom of the hostages within an hour. However, the mayor has no intention to pay for now…they're trying to persuade them</em>»</p><p>«<em>Useless people…this is most probably one of Kira's experiments! We need the tapes of the security cameras of the metro station, all the registrations, the ticket's purchase…everything useful for the investigations! And call Matsuda back here, <strong>now</strong></em>» every one of the task-force nodded terrorized and went back to their desks.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰</strong>
  <strong> 34 MINUTES LEFT </strong>
  <strong>♰</strong>
</p><p>A tall man was keeping the passengers quiet using a rifle and he was watching them carefully while his colleagues communicated with the mayor and the Police Chief. Sometimes that man would exchange position with one of the other three men.</p><p>Ryoko was keeping a cold, controlled face. However, she was scared as the rest of the passengers: she was terrorized in fact. Her hands were shaking, the palms were sweating, her face was pale. She was on alert watching carefully everyone in the wagon. And maybe Matsuda could sense her worry, probably he felt her shaking hands against his own wrist that Ryoko grabbed in a moment of agitation.  </p><p>Suddenly she felt her phone vibrating. Without letting anyone notice her, she took her phone from her purse with slow movements. Ryoko looked at the screen and saw Ryuzaki's contact. She slowly opened the phone but didn’t answer.</p><p>«<em>How much time is left?!</em>» one of the man yelled from the other side of the wagon.</p><p>«<em>34 minutes</em>» another one replied.</p><p>«<em>Let's contact the mayor again…maybe he didn’t understand what’s the situation</em>»</p><p>Ryoko closed the phone and put it in her purse again, hoping Ryuzaki would understand.</p><p>L, on the side of the phone, listened that conversation with wide eyes. He tried to contact Ryoko because he needed her in the investigations and he expected her cute, sweet voice calling his name. However, his skin turned even paler when he heard the voice of four men in the background.</p><p>«<em>Ryuzaki, Matsuda is not answering</em>…» Soichiro told him in the same moment L ended the call with Ryoko.</p><p>«<em>Asami-chan…she is in the train</em>» he said closing the phone.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>Ryuzaki's doubts were confirmed when he saw Ryoko and Matsuda in the tapes of the metro station. He grasped the teaspoon full of cake and put it down in the plate.</p><p>He was collaborating with the police and the mayor in order to find the culprits. For him, it was pretty simple: the tapes showed clearly who were the four men involved in that crime. However, the situation was complicated because Ryoko was one of the hostages. Wait…really?</p><p>«<em>Ryuzaki</em>…» Soichiro entered the room where L was surrounded by screens.</p><p>«<em>News?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Yes. According to the task-force hired by the mayor, the ticket inspector was shot because he tried to fight the kidnappers. They are becoming impatient because the mayor didn’t want to pay</em>»</p><p>Ryuzaki growled in a low voice and pressed a button of his keyboard. «<em>Watari, get me in touch with the mayor. I'm going to take care of that personally</em>»</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Operation</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>A/N: || As always, be careful: mention of death and violence ahead. ||</p><p> </p><p>Anyway, I reached 150+ hits ♥ they could seem not many but not for me, thank you so much! (⁀ᗢ⁀).</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>♰</strong>
  <strong> 22 MINUTES LEFT </strong>
  <strong>♰</strong>
</p><p>"I swear, if this situation is something planned by L…I'm going to slap him again and again"</p><p>The wagon was incredibly silent, only few cries could be heard. Now Ryoko and Matsuda were holding tightly their shaking hands in order to stay calm.</p><p>«<em>Girl, I can kill them if you want…you have the Death Note in your purse</em>» Gynos stood in the main corridor of the wagon, in front of Ryoko. She said no with the head slightly. However, Gynos was worried: the fact that his favourite was in constant danger was something that bothered him a lot. This reminded him Jealous, the Shinigami who died sacrificing himself because he fell in love with a human. Gynos didn’t want to end like him but at the same time he had the instinct to save her.</p><p>«<em>Alright</em>…» he will listen to her for now. Since he was invisible and untouchable, he went where the three kidnappers were in order to listen to their conversations.</p><p>«<em>Don’t worry Asami-chan, everything will be fine</em>» Ryoko heard Matsuda say at her ear, a strange and reassuring voice came out of him. She nodded and smiled faintly at him to reassure him too.</p><p>Meanwhile, L talked "kindly" with the mayor expressing all his doubts about how he supervised the situation: the truth was L scolded the mayor saying that two important members of his task-force were in that wagon meaning the mayor had to use all his instruments to solve the problem. L proposed to pay the ransom (of course the mayor accepted the offer) and he had to keep L well-informed every minute.</p><p>«<em>Why are you such a rush, Ryuzaki? I know this is not your first kidnap but…I noticed your strange…behaviour</em>» Light, who sat next to him, asked concerned.</p><p>«<em>A kidnap is something serious, Light-kun. You couldn’t predict the consequences</em>» </p><p>«<em>I know but…I never saw you so nervous and worried</em>. <em>Is it because there were Asami-chan and Matsuda in that train?</em>»</p><p>That was a good question. L was the greatest detective in the world, kidnappings were very simple from his point of view. The most "difficult" thing was convincing the kidnappers and he was very good with words. However, this time was different, L could sense it. Until that moment the criminal underworld was something much far from him, something that didn’t concern him at all if not to spread justice. Said moment came when someone from his own team got involved in that underworld. It happened other times that a member of L's team was taken hostage, that was why he worked alone.</p><p>He wouldn’t be worried because he would succeed in his work, as always, but something inside him was making him feel more worried than usual. He felt similar feelings when Ukita died because of the second Kira. He hated to lose someone of his team. He wanted to take the car with Watari, drive towards the mayor's office and yell at him for his incompetence so bad, but he couldn’t.</p><p>«<em>I'm nervous because it could be Kira, Light-kun. If they managed to find out Asami or Matsuda's real name, the entire task-force is in danger. You and me included</em>»</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ 10 MINUTES LEFT ♰</strong>
</p><p>Two people already died in those minutes: the ticket inspector and someone outside the wagon, a technician who came too close to it.</p><p>The corpse of the ticket inspector was lying in the corridor, against the cold floor not far from Ryoko. She was staring at it in shock, she couldn’t look away from that body. Matsuda was shocked too but he never showed it; instead, when one of the kidnappers shot at that man, he hugged her tightly mostly to use himself as a shield.</p><p>In the meantime, the four men started to argue more often. Two of them wanted to kill all the passengers while the other two disagreed. However, Ryoko didn’t hear them quite right because the train driver's cabin was far from her seat. After five minutes, she heard few more shots and everyone cried in fear. Ryoko grabbed tightly Matsuda's red jacket terrorized. </p><p>Suddenly, one of them entered the wagon and yelled at the passengers pretending silence. Ryoko realized the clock was ticking and the kidnappers were impatient: most probably the negotiations were not going so well.</p><p>The hour was almost reaching the end when the four kidnappers received the money of the ransom, but their plan was not over yet: they took off the train again in order to reach an emergency exit inside a tunnel. The metro stopped and the four men used the corpse of the ticket inspector to do something inside the train driver's cabinet, Ryoko could not see anything from her seat. Outside the wagon everything was black and she couldn’t see what was happening in that moment. She felt the train took off once again: this time it was getting faster and faster, the train didn’t meet any obstacle…all the traffic lights were green. Ryoko felt herself crushed against the seat.</p><p>Suddenly, a loud, metallic screech made everyone yell in fear. Some were crying, others were praying: Ryoko could only hid her face against Matsuda's shirt and closing her eyes hoping everything would be over soon.</p><p>Then everything happened, in a matter of seconds: everyone was thrown in many different directions on the ground or against other seats, Ryoko and Matsuda included; purses and bags flew away and many people hit each other in the impact. However, Ryoko never fell to the ground; it was only when everything went silent again that she opened her eyes: all the passengers were on the floor, confused, scared and someone was wounded too. She noticed that Matsuda was hugging her in a protective way, that was why she didn’t felt the impact on the hard floor of the train.</p><p>«<em>Matsuda</em>…» she whispered surprised.</p><p>«<em>Are you alright, Asami-chan?</em>» he looked down at her and smiled, his eyes showed relief and tiredness at the same time. He then released her, a bit reluctantly. She smiled at him, thanking him silently. Then, the train's doors were forcefully opened and many policemen entered in a rush.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰</strong>
  <strong> TIME SKIP </strong>
  <strong>♰</strong>
</p><p>A bunch of ambulances arrived at the Metro Station to visit all the passengers involved in the kidnapping. Everyone was visited and eventually hospitalised.</p><p>Ryoko, alongside with Matsuda, was sitting inside an ambulance with a heavy blanket on her shoulders, staring at nothing in particular. Her family visited her worried sick: Ryoko's mother asked her if she was wounded, her father wanted to know if she needed something from home and even her brother Kazuo was there. Ryoko reassured them, telling them she was perfectly fine and that she only needed a new pair of clothes, nothing else. So her family went back home to bring her new clothes as requested.</p><p>So she was staying there, inside the ambulance, staring at the ground with many thoughts in her mind. She had to maintain this strong attitude, that’s what distinguished her from the other girls of her age. She was considered incredibly strong both physically and emotionally. But the truth was that she wasn’t strong, at all: in that moment all she wanted to do was crying, pouring out all her emotions. Despite she didn’t show that to Matsuda back in the train, she was scared as everyone else inside that wagon: she wanted to run away as fast as her legs could bear. For once, she didn’t think to kill the kidnappers in order to save her life: not only because it wasn’t a smart move (because everyone could see her and the Death Note, giving even more suspects to L) but because she was too scared to use it.</p><p>Her thoughts were interrupted by a nurse, who shook her slightly. «<em>Excuse me Miss, someone wants to see you</em>»</p><p>Ryoko raised the head and found Ryuzaki not far from the ambulance next to Watari and the task-force. Ryoko removed the heavy blanket and run to them. Ryuzaki step forward towards her, maybe to ask her something, but he froze in place when the black haired girl hugged him.</p><p>«<em>Ryuzaki!</em>» L stood there motionless, unsure what to do. The world around him was spinning…but why?</p><p>«<em>Asami-chan! We were so worried!</em>» Aizawa said from behind L, his voice full of worry.</p><p>«<em>Yeah Asami-chan…Ryuzaki moved heaven and earth to take control of the operation</em>» Mogi pointed out.</p><p>L and Ryoko moved away from their hug, the black haired girl was crying, her face was puffy and wet.  «<em>A-ah sorry</em>…» she wiped away her tears. «<em>Thank you</em>» she said looking at Ryuzaki, her teary eyes full of gratitude.</p><p>Ryuzaki's skin changed colour from pale white to slight pink. Using his thin black hair, he hid his blushing face behind them. «<em>Don’t mention it. I would do it for any member of my task-force</em>»</p><p>Everyone behind Ryuzaki nodded in agreement. If only Ryoko knew how much L yelled, insulted and ate sweets just to keep his mind working at its 100%, calculating every possibility, every change of mind of the kidnappers and every terrible (yet possible) scenario.</p><p>«<em>Thank you everyone, I know all of you contributed in the success of this operation</em>» she finally smiled, after a long time.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>·················•·················•</p><p>One question was printed inside L's mind: "what was that?". Yeah, he often asked himself that question but he never found a good answer. And what happened at the metro station wasn’t helping him. Sure, he was rather satisfied about the results (both Matsuda and Ryoko were safe) but something was tormenting him from inside.</p><p>«<em>Are you alright Ryuzaki?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Yes Light-kun</em>»</p><p>The truth was L didn’t know. He didn’t know if he was fine or not. However, in that moment the only thing that really bothered him was Matsuda, as always. After the events at the metro station he and Ryoko became closer: they laughed, worked and talked a lot. Too much for L's tastes.</p><p>«<em>Asami-chan, where's the report I asked you?</em>» L interrupted a pleasant conversation between those two.</p><p>«<em>Right beside you, Ryuzaki</em>» Ryoko chuckled and continued the interrupted discussion with Matsuda. L's attempt to put an end to that mushy conversation failed and snorted annoyed.</p><p>«<em>What's up Ryuzaki? Jealous?</em> » Light asked in a tease way.</p><p>That word, jealousy. Could it be the answer at his inner question? Jealousy: "a feeling of unhappiness and anger because someone has something or someone that you want". L analysed his current situation: was he feeling unhappy or angry because of that? Well yes, more unhappy than angry; the cause of this feeling was taking something or someone away from him? Something he wanted?</p><p>«<em>Something…I want</em>…<em>?</em>» he mumbled between him and himself, the thumb was playing with the lower lip.</p><p>«<em>What did you say?</em>» Light asked him, maybe he heard him whispering something.</p><p>«<em>Nothing, Light-kun</em>»</p><p>L didn’t know if jealousy was the answer. The only clear thing was that Matsuda's excessive closeness with Ryoko annoyed him.</p><p>That same night L didn’t sleep, as usual. Night was his favourite moment of the day to work because he was not surrounded by annoying people. The monitoring room was silent, he was eating his scones while checking on the cameras of his HQ. The building was quiet and empty except for few occupied rooms and offices. Without thinking about it, L switched to see Ryoko's room (for once she managed to fall asleep in a bedroom). He did it rarely: sometimes he would observe her during her homework sessions or when she would repeat out loud what she was studying. Ryuzaki noticed her tiny dimples when she smiled or the almost violet shade of her deep black hair, he never analysed his suspect so closely. The incident at the metro station marked him somehow: for some deep, hidden reason he remained quite bothered. Not by the incident per se but by his own behaviour. L recognised he acted more nervously, worriedly and concerned than usual. Was it a reaction after Ukita's death months ago? He had to figure it out as soon as possible.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰</strong>
  <strong> TIME SKIP </strong>
  <strong>♰</strong>
</p><p>Annoyance.</p><p>Irritation.</p><p>And...sadness?</p><p>L didn't know why his body was experiencing those feelings. What he knew was that Light and Matsuda were too flirtatious and Ryoko smiled at everything he said.</p><p>«<em>You know, Asami-chan, if you set up the software like this, your research would be faster</em>» Light pointed out.</p><p>«<em>Really Light-kun? I didn’t know that</em>»</p><p>And since when Ryoko called him "Light-kun"? She always addressed him as "Yagami-kun"…were they so intimate? L tapped nervously his knee with a finger, the reports in front of him weren’t so useful nor interesting at the moment. He cursed at himself mentally and run his non handcuffed hand over his face. Light noticed it and frowned.</p><p>«<em>Are you alright, Ryuzaki?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Yes, Light-kun. Could you please stop asking me the same question over and over? It would be appreciated</em>» L replied a bit spitefully.</p><p>«<em>Gee Ryuzaki…I was just worried</em>»</p><p>«<em>If something is bothering me I'll inform you</em>»</p><p>On the other hand, (and despite the deal) he had to find evidences about Ryoko and the new Kira too. L realised that he had to break the thick mask she wore every day, the same mask that allowed her to survive in the White room. A façade made of detachment, a false sense of security and strong self-esteem. He needed her in her most vulnerable state and in order to do that she had to trust him. It was even simpler than the kidnap, at least for him: he was L, everyone trusted him. Sooner or later Ryoko will have confidence in him. </p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>«<em>I want to…apologise, for my behaviour during your arrest</em>»</p><p>«<em>Uh?</em>» Ryoko was shocked and her face said it too. «<em>What?</em>»</p><p>«<em>I said I'm sorry for what happened. I realise I exaggerated with that…it was a bit too much</em>» he repeated, the thumb over his lips.</p><p>"Did I…hear it right? He is…apologising?" Ryoko thought astonished. L's sudden statement caught the attention of the other members of the task-force too (since they all were in the monitoring room).</p><p>Matsuda and Aizawa exchanged a shocked face and Soichiro smiled. «<em>Admitting a mistake is an act of bravery, Ryuzaki. It takes guts to say sorry</em>»</p><p>L nodded, agreeing with Yagami-san and taking a lollipop from the pockets of his jeans pockets. «<em>Yes, he is right. So Asami-chan…will you accept my apologises?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Well…uhm…yeah…I accept them</em>» she replied still astonished. Ryoko saw him smiling and searched for something in his pockets again. She looked at him with curiosity, she wondered how big those pockets were.</p><p>He took another Chupa Chups and handled it to her. «<em>Sugar is important</em>»</p><p>Ryoko took the lollipop from him, she saw from the wrapping that it was an orange flavoured lollipop. «<em>Uh…thank you, Ryuzaki</em>» she observed the lollipop and smiled. She loved orange flavoured candies.</p><p>«<em>However, Asami-chan, despite you said you forgave me I want to make it up to you. That's why you, me and Light-kun will go to the local museum for a private exhibit</em>» L smirked waiting for a response.</p><p>«<em>Wha-What? There's no need for that Ryuzaki…really</em>» Ryoko tried hard to dissuade him but it wasn’t useless. When L made a decision it was hard to make him change his mind. Ryoko was so taken aback from that sudden display of kindness from L that later, when she recalled that conversation, she was even more amazed than before.</p><p>«<em>Ah girl! It seems you got a date from the greatest detective in the world</em>» the only one who was having fun was Gynos. He loved watching humans doing things and betting the consequences. Damn gambling addicted Shinigami. «<em>I was right ah! What's next? A baby? Yeah! I bet you</em>»</p><p>At those words Ryoko realised something: that was her first date ever. Actually it was not the first time someone asked her out but she always declined those offers. Boys were not her top priority and she thought that they could be an obstacle to her academic career. So at that thought (plus Gynos' one) she turned redder than a tomato in few seconds.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰</strong>
  <strong> TIME SKIP </strong>
  <strong>♰</strong>
</p><p>The Edo-Tokyo Museum: a building 62.2 meters tall that covered 30,000 square meters; the concrete exterior was designed based on a traditional rice storehouse and was the same height as the Edo Castle. There were eight floors, one below ground and seven elevated off the ground by four columns, with an open air plaza at ground level; the primary entrance was on the third floor, reached by a bright red escalator from the plaza; the fifth and sixth floors contained permanent exhibits, with temporary special and feature exhibits on the first and fifth floors; the seventh floor was a library that housed 560,000 texts and cultural items related to Edo and Tokyo.</p><p>«<em>Since you did many poetic courses at high school, I though a walk at the Edo-Tokyo Museum's library would be interesting for you, Asami-chan</em>» L told her once inside the building. However, Ryoko was not focused on him: she was amazed, fascinated by that place. She could smell the fine fragrance of old books and new furniture, she was in bliss.</p><p>«<em>This is…unbelievable Ryuzaki…extraordinary</em>…» Ryoko replied with shiny eyes.</p><p>At that reaction L smirked, excited eyes hidden behind his dark hair. Matsuda's behaviour helped him realising a thing: harshness will lead to nothing. In order to let Ryoko's mask fall, L had to wear another one made of kindness and trust.</p><p>"I don't have to be a monster, like you Kira, to hurt people. I can do it gently, with a single careless breath or kind words."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Masks</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>A/N: mention of death ahead</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ah, Bon Bon Cherry. Ryoko never ate anything more delicious. They are soft chewy pink bonbons with an amazing cherry flavour that lasted for ages. The outside was dust coated, then when you bit in you got that rush of blissful cherry jam.</p><p>Sweets and candies were the only thing that Ryoko actually liked of L's HQ. Despite Misa Amane was a "member" of the task-force, Ryoko felt still uncomfortable working with other men. Luckily L, Light and Matsuda were young so the atmosphere was not that heavy.</p><p>However, Ryoko noticed a change of behaviour in L. Not only he was kind and caring with her but he offered her his own sweets. <strong>From his stash!</strong> Misa said that not even Light was allowed to take those sweets. Ryoko didn’t know how to feel about this: "honoured"? Flattered? She was truly confused.</p><p>«<em>Maybe Ryuzaki likes you, Asami-chan</em>∼» Misa once said. Ryoko frowned doubtful.</p><p>«<em>Yeah that blondie is right, girl</em>» Gynos would confirm later. Her frown deepened. Such a nonsense, how could someone as the greatest detective in the world had feelings for someone? Ryoko didn’t even know if L had feelings in general, he was so emotionless from the voice to the facial expressions. He seemed so empty to her.</p><p>September started few days ago and Watari decided to try a new recipe. The results were those wonderful Bon Bon Cherry, Ryoko kept eating them one by one while writing a report for L.</p><p>On the other hand, there was L himself. His strategy was working after all. Being nice was always the right approach to gain someone's trust. If he could not obtain a confession with his harsh methods, then kindness will be the solution. At first his "kindness" regarded, for example, reducing the agents at her trail, removing some cameras from her house and things like that. The first days everything went smooth, L's acting seemed convincing. Then all of sudden, as if L was hit by a lightning, the whole situation turned upside-down. His fake smiles came back at him truer than ever; his false caring words returned sincerer than before. L's brilliant plan was taking a turn for the worst.</p><p>To push away those thoughts L took a Bon Bon Cherry from the plate Watari placed on the desk right next to him. The old man really exceeded himself with that recipe, L had to admit that. One by one, after a while those sweets started to run out until only one was left in the plate.</p><p>Ryoko noticed the Bon Bon Cherry were ending and she was determined to eat the last one. She extended the hand without looking at the plate but something warm stopped her. She frowned and turned to see what she touched; her frown was quickly replaced by a slight blush when she saw L's hand on hers. He stopped her from grabbing the last bon bon cherry but maybe he didn’t notice because he wasn’t looking at her.</p><p>«<em>Ehm…Ryuzaki?</em>» Ryoko called him and he turned towards her. At first he didn’t understand the situation then he looked down at the plate. For a split of second his eyes widened and his pale cheeks turned pink. But soon he regained his emotionless composure.</p><p>«<em>You ate most of them, Asami-chan. The last one is mine</em>»</p><p>«<em>It's not true! Actually <strong>you</strong> offered me these sweets in the first place</em>»</p><p>«<em>True but I said you could try them, not devour them </em>»</p><p>«<em>Aw come on Ryuzaki…they are so good, you can have them whenever you want</em>» Ryoko pleaded him, hoping her light brown eyes would create some sort of sympathy in him. Her plan seemed to work because L turned away from her gaze and coughed nervously.</p><p>«<em>Fine, Asami-chan. You can have it</em>» later he replied. Everyone in the room turned towards them shocked and surprised: L never gave in so easily, especially if sweets were involved. Aizawa smirked and Ide chuckled quietly imagining strange scenarios.</p><p>Ryoko smiled but she noticed Ryuzaki didn’t let go her hand. «<em>Ryuzaki…?</em>» he turned again towards her.</p><p>«<em>The hand</em>…» he looked down, where his hand was still grabbing Ryoko's soft one, and let go.</p><p>«<em>I apologise</em>» he pulled back his hand and Ryoko ate the last bon bon cherry. Both of them a blushing mess.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ TIME SKIP ♰</strong>
</p><p>One night L was the only one awake checking the cameras in his HQ. Ryoko came back at Yokohama because she had many exams at the University and Tokyo was too far away from it for her. So she came back home to study without distractions.</p><p>Despite he made a deal with Ryoko to interrupt the investigations about her in order to catch the Yotsuba Kira, L continued his researches for evidences. He was trying to find any piece of tape, registration or proof about her involvement so he could arrest her. When he started with his "caring approach" plan, his mind was lucid and calculating enough to divide his "kind" mask with his usual self. But now…what happened? L's mind was so focused on Ryoko that he couldn’t erase her from his brain: the way she walked, how she played with her hair if she was nervous, her perfume.</p><p>«<em>I'm falling in her trap…a trap I made by myself</em>» he said to himself. How could he be so inattentive? How could he be so…stupid?</p><p>«<em>It's a half victory, Ryuzaki</em>» Watari walked inside the monitoring room with a silver tray in hands. He came closer to L and put a large piece of cake in front of him.</p><p>«<em>What do you mean Watari?</em>»</p><p>«<em>I noticed the way you look at her…and the way she looks at you. She fell in your trap, yes, but Miss Asami dragged you too</em>»</p><p>L let those words sunk in him then he sighed. «<em>I'm doomed, Watari. If what you say is true then I'm dead…she is Kira, I'm sure of it, but</em>…»</p><p>«<em>You don’t want to believe it at this point</em>» the old man saw how L hid his face behind his black hair.</p><p>«<em>She can’t remain unpunished, Watari…her hands are dirty. Innocent blood stained them and she has to pay for this</em>» L made a pause before continuing. «<em>Why is my brain so unprofessional?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Because it's the heart who is speaking, Ryuzaki</em>» Watari replied and left the room knowing L needed silence to think.</p><p>«<em>The…heart?</em>»</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>It was the night before the exam. God, Ryoko was so stressed she couldn’t sleep. The only things in her heads were the never-ending negative scenarios about her exam: wrong answers, blackouts, a bad grade, the professor being in an ill humour. She kept turning in her bed sighing; Ryoko took her alarm clock and saw the time: 0.13pm.</p><p>«<em>Damn it's late</em>…» in situations like that she would call Eriko (Ryoko knew she was still awake at that hour). However, in that moment she thought about L. She was taking her phone to call him but then she realised that maybe he had better things to do than comfort her.</p><p>Ryoko was going to turn again in her bed in order to find a better position when her phone rang. She took it without turning on the light but she was blinded by the extreme brightness of the screen.</p><p>«<em>Gah!</em>» she rubbed her eyes and then answered at the call. «<em>Hello?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Asami-chan…did I wake you up?</em>»</p><p>It was L. «<em>Ryuzaki…it's past midnight. Why are you awake in the first place?</em>»</p><p>She heard him chuckle. At that sound she blushed…thanks to the darkness it was impossible to see, luckily. «<em>Light-kun said you have an exam tomorrow. He just wanted to wish you good luck</em>»</p><p>«<em>Ah yeah, thank him for me. I'll need that…a lot actually</em>» now it was her turn to chuckle. Ryoko heard nothing for a while then L replied.</p><p>«<em>Why? You are a brilliant student, I'm 100% sure your exams will be excellent</em>»</p><p>She smiled. «<em>Thank you. It's just…what if it will not be so excellent? What if…I fail? My mum and dad will be mad at me because I didn’t give the best</em>»</p><p>«<em>You always do your best, Asami-chan. You're far cleverer and more capable than you think…it's the reason I don’t wish good luck to people I know they'll succeed</em>»</p><p>That reply left Ryoko astonished (and still a blushing mess). Nobody told her those things before an important event. From her father to Eriko, everybody around her expected the best from Ryoko and she never failed. Sure, she was not at the top but she was still a source of pride for her family. None of them, for once, thought that she could feel down or demoralized or anxious about something.</p><p>«<em>Thank you, Ryuzaki. I…mean it, I needed to hear that</em>»</p><p>Another long pause, Ryoko wondered why he took so much to answer. «<em>I mean it too, Asami-chan</em>»</p><p>«<em>What are you reading?</em>»</p><p>L knew with that phase Ryoko needed his voice to fall asleep, much like the period after her confinement. She couldn’t see it but L smiled at that question and started to explain the report he was reading.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>·················•·················•</p><p>Hitarashi Ryushi: suicide</p><p>Tatsuno Kukiko: hanged in the cell</p><p>Morikawa Fumie: heart attack</p><p>Higuchi Yutsuko: car incident</p><p>Yamasaki Ryushi: overdose</p><p>Ryoko was on the roof of her University during a break since it was the only place where L's agents couldn’t reach her. She was writing names on her red Death Note, Gynos couldn’t do all the work for her after all. Autumn was coming but luckily days were still a bit warm, the wind crumpled the notebook's margins each time it blew.</p><p>«<em>What are you going to do with the cake-addicted, girl?</em>» the God of Death asked her. The fur on his jacket moved with the wind too and the tiny chains on his rings made a pleasant metallic sound that reminded a wind chime. He was crouched at the edge of the building not much far from Ryoko.</p><p>«<em>It's a good question, Gynos…I don’t really know</em>» the raven haired girl replied while writing the last name of the page. «<em>What if he is <strong>pretending</strong> to be nice? We are talking about Ryuzaki, after all</em>»</p><p>«<em>What if he is not pretending at all? You have to consider that possibility</em>»</p><p>«<em>Yes but we are talking about the greatest detective in the world…someone who confined Misa Amane in a straitjacket and me in a White room. I'm not even sure he has an emotional sphere</em>»</p><p>«<em>If human nature has taught me anything it is that the impossible is probable</em>»</p><p>Ryoko turned towards him with a questioning face. He wasn’t looking at her so he didn’t notice her dubious expression; she thought about what he said and after a while she smirked evilly.</p><p>«<em>He's doomed then. If what you say it's true…I can use this against him. Tit-for-tat, Gynos…he uses strategies and masks with me and I'll do the same</em>»</p><p>«<em>Ah!</em>» Gynos burst out laughing. «<em>That's why I never lost a gamble, girl. I always bet on perfect people</em>»</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ TIME SKIP ♰</strong>
</p><p>Ryoko did all the exams she had to for the new semester that would start on October, so she had plenty free time now. That's when she thought she could have a moment for herself at the HQ that Misa knocked at her room.</p><p>«<em>Asami-chan. Would you like to go with me and Light at the amusement park? I don’t want to stay alone with Ryuzaki, you know</em>» Misa whispered the last part.</p><p>«<em>I don’t know Misa-san</em>…<em>I'm not really fond of crowded places</em>…»</p><p>«<em>Please pleaseeee!</em>» she begged her. A group date at the amusement park, maybe it could be a distraction actually.</p><p>«<em>Alright then</em>»</p><p>Few days later, the date had come: that was a warm autumn day, clear sky and no wind. Ryoko chose for the event a simple red sweater, white skirt and sneakers. Misa (obviously) had a black and red gothic dress and shoes, Light wore a simple black shirt and khaki pants and Ryuzaki, well, was Ryuzaki. Watari had to accompany everyone at the amusement park with his expensive, long British car.</p><p>The amusement park was big and crowded (and Ryoko was not happy about it): roller coasters, many carousels and different type of rides. In addition, bar and restaurants almost everywhere. There was a tiny garden too to eat and relax.</p><p>«<em>I love this place!</em>» Misa cheered while hugging Light's arm.</p><p>«<em>Misa, you're strangling my arm</em>»</p><p>«<em>I want cake</em>» L whispered to himself.</p><p>Misa led the group inside the amusement park and she wanted to do all roller coasters. Meaning <strong>everyone</strong> had to do every roller coaster. L didn’t agree because the roller coasters had a camera that took photos and he didn’t want it (moreover, he didn’t like them because they were not funny for him). Misa wasn’t amused at all.</p><p>«<em>No thrill rides, Misa-san</em>» Ryuzaki pointed out.</p><p>«<em>What about the big wheel?</em>» proposed Ryoko.</p><p>«<em>Let's do it! It's so romantic!</em>»</p><p>During the queue, knowing that Ryuzaki would start to demand sugar in a more persistent way, Ryoko gave him a lollipop.</p><p>«<em>Thank you, Asami-chan</em>»</p><p>After a while their ride started: the big wheel's cabins were completely clear with bright red seats; the view was breath-taking, you could see the entire park and the city from a high height.</p><p>Misa was cuddling Light's arm ignoring Ryuzaki and Ryoko. The black haired girl found her cute, so in love with Light (even if it sounded like a one-way love).</p><p>«<em>So that's what people call..."romantic date"?</em>» Ryuzaki whispered while licking the lollipop in a not-so-polite way.</p><p>«<em>Most people, yes</em>» replied Ryoko, next to him inside the cabin. A tiny space divided the two and Ryoko couldn’t look away from him. She was staring at how his tongue was licking and curling up around the candy. A wave of dirty thoughts hit Ryoko like a tsunami and her face turned red in a second. She looked away immediately trying to hid her embarrassment.</p><p>«<em>What's the purpose of this ride?</em>» L interrupted Ryoko's thoughts.</p><p>«<em>Enjoying the view with a special someone, I guess</em>»</p><p>After few minutes of silence, the cabin started to go down. «<em>Are you enjoying the view, Asami-chan?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Actually, yes</em>»</p><p>L stared at her until the end of the ride deep in thought and in the meantime finishing his lollipop. Then the group left that area of the park.</p><p>«<em>Can we have some cake now?</em>» he asked to the group. Wasn’t the lollipop enough for him?</p><p>«<em>Fine</em>» Misa sighed exasperated. For her, he was still ruining her date with Light after all. They chose a cute cafeteria with too much pink and hearts for Ryoko's states. However, the good smell of coffee and brioches made everything more tolerable. Light chose a table far from the entrance so nobody would argue about Ryuzaki's way of sitting. Everyone ordered something (especially L) and talked about many things during the wait.</p><p>However, Ryoko was not truly listening to them. She was thinking about the conversation she had with Gynos at the University. Yes, it could be a strategy for real: using caring words and a kind behaviour to gain someone's trust and convince them to do something. But what if Gynos was right? What if L was <span class="u">not</span> pretending to care?</p><p>«<em>Asami-chan, are you with us?</em>» Misa interrupted her thoughts with her high-pitched voice.</p><p>«<em>Uh?</em>» Ryoko snapped back in the present. «<em>Yeah sorry guys. What were you saying?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Ryuzaki proposed to do the "Chocolate Bar Challenge"!</em>»</p><p>«<em>The challenge where you try to finish a giant chocolate bar without vomiting?</em>» Ryoko raised an eyebrow. She couldn’t expect less from someone as L. Did he really thing he can do it?</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>He did it.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Explanation</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>|| A/N: attention, strong language, mention of harassment and wolf whistle ahead ||</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>September arrived with its cold rain and sharp wind. Ryoko was at the station, waiting for the train that would take her home from the Higashi University. She was waiting on the platform staring at nothing in particular.</p><p>She was deep in though, thinking over and over again about what Gynos, her Shinigami, told her days ago.</p><p>«<em>What if he is not pretending at all? You have to consider that possibility</em>»</p><p>She replied coldly at him, asserting that L didn’t have an emotional sphere so it was impossible for him to care about someone but himself. At first, she was truly convinced about it since she was still angry at him because of her cruel confinement. However, as time passed, her point of view started to change. Ryoko could easily tell if someone was lying at her or not but with L everything was more difficult than usual. He was always so emotionless and composed, even his voice was flat.</p><p>Nevertheless, she somehow sensed that the majority of L's display of "kindness" were sincere. Either he was an extremely talented actor or he was honest with her.</p><p>A loud hiss warned her the train arrived and Ryoko followed the other people that took the same train. Despite the incident at the metro station with Matsuda she kept taking trains and metro because she didn’t have the licence so she had not much choice. During the wait she started to draw random things: dogs, plants, bees and after a while Ryuzaki too. When she noticed what she was doing she quickly closed the book a bit flushed.</p><p>«<em>I'm being ridiculous</em>…» Ryoko whispered to herself and sighed. Thirty minutes later she was at Yokohama but she had to walk for a while before reaching her house.</p><p>She was walking alone (not truly since there were two agents behind her) still deep in thought when her path was blocked by someone.</p><p>«<em>Hey babe, are you all alone here?</em>»</p><p>Ryoko raised her head and saw three guys: they had hoods over the head, a sort of scarf around their necks and loose clothes. They didn’t seem much clever though. She sensed Gynos flying behind her, his shadow was upon her.</p><p>«<em>We can help you if you need help with the…directions</em>» the guy on the right told her, she could almost see the smirk under the scarf.</p><p>«<em>Why don’t you ask your mother the directions to go to hell?</em>»  Ryoko replied sharply and this caused a deep growl from him.</p><p>«<em>How dare you, little slut</em>-» that guy was going to grab her but someone else interrupted the action.</p><p>«<em>What's happening here?</em>» a man with a long jacket appeared behind Ryoko. She turned and smiled at him.</p><p>«<em>Dad!</em>» there he was, Mr. Fusao Koike: a tall man with neck-lengthened black hair, the same shade as Ryoko, all upswept with hair gel; light skin, thin black eyes framed with a pair of glasses and a rather toned body for being a simple estate agent.</p><p>«<em> Are those guys bothering you, honey?</em>» his low voice, alongside with a sharp gaze, made the three boys jump in fear for a second. They quickly ran away, leaving Fusao and Ryoko alone in the street.</p><p>«<em>Did you know them?</em>»</p><p>Ryoko shook the head. Then she saw her father looking in the direction where the three guys ran, his eyes were strange. She recognised the same gaze she had when she wanted to <strong>kill</strong> someone with the Death Note. «<em>Dad, are you alright?</em>»</p><p>Fusao looked down at his daughter and smiled. His smiles were always true towards his family. «<em>Yes honey. Tomorrow I’ll have to warn the police station about those three. Now let's go home</em>».</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ TIME SKIP, AT L'S HQ ♰</strong>
</p><p>And while L and Ryoko were busy understanding their own feelings, in the middle there was Matsuda. That poor guy had a huge crush on Ryoko and after the metro kidnapping his crush grew stronger. Despite the age gap of 5 years between Matsuda and Ryoko, the young detective couldn’t help but fall deeply in love with her. She was everything he searched in a woman: strong yet cute personality, self-control, high education and good family.</p><p>«<em>A-Asami-chan?</em>» Matsuda quietly called her, she was working on her laptop not far from L. Ryoko turned and smiled at him.</p><p>«<em>Yes?</em>»</p><p>«<em>I wanted to ask you if</em>-»</p><p>«<em>Matsuda bring us more coffee, please</em>» L interrupted him abruptly and Matsuda sighed.</p><p>«<em>Alright</em>…» he left the monitoring room and once outside he sighed defeated.</p><p>Every time Matsuda tried to talk with Ryoko, L was always there to interfere and interrupt every conversation. He hated him for it but Ryoko, being Ryoko, always replied to L's sharp statements making him blush (in anger or embarrassment?).</p><p>Since the incident at the metro station Matsuda wanted to make it up to her. That day ended horribly and he felt it was his fault (even if it was not). However, he knew that she fancied L and not him…he saw how those two looked at each other, he was a detective after all.</p><p>When Ryoko smiled at him, it made his world brighter. Matsuda had told her this, once, and he had only gotten a puzzled look in response, followed by a sympathetic smile. But at least she still smiled. At least he was still granted of them and of her presence too; her entire being will be at his side, even if his affections would never be mutual.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>L hated the Higashi University. Since Ryoko passed the admission exam, she spent less and less time with him at the HQ. He even arranged a desk and a comfy chair for her to help him with the investigations but Ryoko occupied it few times.</p><p>L was experiencing, once again, jealousy. The annoying emotion he felt each time Ryoko would focus her attention to someone that wasn't him. In this case, a guy called Tobe Shihei was the object of his jealousy. He was a handsome, smart and workaholic student a year older than the girl and he was her tutor at the University.</p><p>Ryoko always talked about how kind Tobe was, how his grades were excellent and how dedicated to the courses he was. As a result, this bothered L a lot.</p><p>«<em>You're not going to ruin her tutor's life, right Ryuzaki?</em>» Light asked sceptical. He knew perfectly that L was going to do something.</p><p>«<em>Don't be ridiculous, Light-kun</em>»</p><p>On the contrary, this answer confirmed Light's doubts: L was going to do something. But he didn’t know if it was something good or bad.</p><p>L, being himself, had all the information at his disposal about anyone. As a result, he had the private dossier about Tobe Shinei too: family, medical chats, financial situation, criminal records, work experiences and so on. With frustration he concluded that Tobe Shihei was, indeed, a perfect guy: from the intel this guy had no flaws.</p><p>He was going to change approach, focusing more on Ryoko than Tobe Shihei until his gaze moved to a specific point of the dossier; an apparently meaningless information lighted something in L's mind. This will make Tobe Shihei look like an idiot at least.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ TIME SKIP, HIGASHI UNIVERSITY ♰</strong>
</p><p>«<em>Thank you Tobe-san. With your advices the exam of Juvenile Justice will be easy</em>»</p><p>«<em>Don't mention it. Myer-sensei could be pretty moody during the oral exam, it's better if you know how to approach her</em>»</p><p>Ryoko and Tobe were in one of the main courtyard of the University surrounded by trees and fresh air. Of course Tobe was not Ryoko's personal tutor, he had many other freshmen to help.</p><p>«<em>I've got the feeling this exam will be quite tough…many students put it off</em>…» Ryoko replied a bit discouraged. During the lessons, Myer-sensei was demanding and she had the feeling that this exam would lower her grades.</p><p>«<em>You're right, students tend to push back this course, but it's the worst decision ever. Believe me, it's better if you do it as soon as possible</em>» Tobe pointed out with a kind smile, his blonde hair framed perfectly his face. Ryoko thanked him once again and said goodbye because she had a lesson.</p><p>That same afternoon, after lunch, Ryoko was walking in the corridors of the University. She was busy reading a book and she was really enjoying it until certain voices reached her ear.</p><p>«<em>Did you hear it? It's so embarrassing</em>»</p><p>«<em>Poor him, I don't blame Tobe-kun…I hate them too!</em>»</p><p>«<em>Pff did you see how he screamed when he found those things in his locker? That was hilarious</em>»</p><p>At first Ryoko thought they were making fun of her tutor so she didn’t mind that much. But as days passed those voices became more persistent. Furthermore, Tobe-san was nowhere to be found…he disappeared, he vanished. What was happening?</p><p>«<em>Gynos, could you roam around to find out some good information? Let's bet who will finish first</em>…»</p><p>The Shinigami straightened up when he heard the word "bet", now fully focused on Ryoko. «<em>I'm on it!</em>» and he flew away through the corridors.</p><p>The black haired girl sighed, thinking how easy it was to buy off a Shinigami like Gynos. Something as simple as the word "bet". However, she did the same, roaming around the University searching for a reason for all those rumours about Tobe Shihei.</p><p>It was only at 6pm, after Ryoko's last lesson, that Gynos came back at her. «<em>I heard he frightened when he saw real snakes in his locker</em>»</p><p>Ryoko turned, her back faced Gynos unable to reply. «<em>You could wonder why this is important. Well, girl, it seems that guy is really scared of snakes. His reactions were exaggerated as if he is phobic</em>» the Shinigami continued, flying right behind her.</p><p>"First I have to find Tobe-san…if what Gynos said is true, where would someone afraid of snake hide?" she thought while walking beyond the main bar of the University. It was getting dark and she wasn’t even sure that her tutor was still in the building; moreover, she didn’t know him that much to know his usual places.</p><p>She tried everywhere: the library, the classrooms, the courtyards. But it seemed Tobe Shihei left the University.  Ryoko sighed realising she lost the last train to go back at Yokohama.</p><p>To relax a bit before calling her father to pick her up, she decided to write some more names on the Death Note.</p><p>Once she reached the roof she was welcomed by the beautiful sight of a sunset. Colours like orange, pink, yellow and purple tinted the sky.</p><p>«<em>You're not alone</em>» Gynos interrupted the pleasant atmosphere with his raspy voice.</p><p>Ryoko turned and near the door she saw an abandoned backpack.</p><p>"It's Tobe-san's bag!" she walked closer to have a better look at it. She was going to grab it when she saw someone curled in a ball in a corner.</p><p>«<em>Tobe-san!</em>» Ryoko came slowly closer to him.</p><p>«<em>Great, you came here to make fun of me too?</em>» he asked clearly bothered but he was hiding a strong fear behind those harsh words.</p><p>«<em>What? Of course not Tobe-san…I was worried, you vanished</em>» Ryoko raised an eyebrow at him but the boy was not looking at her in that moment.</p><p>«<em>Yeah sure Koike-san</em>…»</p><p>Ryoko sighed and sat down next to him. «<em>Have you notice how beautiful the sky is right now?</em>» she asked him calmly, almost whispering. She was looking up at the sky observing the clouds; they looked so fluffy from there.</p><p>Tobe sat comfier on the ground and looked up as well. The sky was indeed beautiful, blue was slowly replacing the orange and the first stars were visible. «<em>You're right</em>»</p><p>Ryoko could sense how Tobe's breath was slower meaning he was relaxing and even his movement were less frantic. Few minutes later, when more stars popped out from behind the clouds, Tobe broke the silence. «<em>Since childhood I</em>…» he stuttered but continued shortly after. «<em>I have a strong fear for a certain…thing. Doctors said it's a true phobia</em>»</p><p>Ryoko stood in silence knowing she had not to force him with his explanation. He was still a bit in fear and he needed his time to collect his thoughts and speak normally. «<em>It's called Herpetophobia</em>…»</p><p>Herpetophobia: fear or aversion to reptiles, commonly lizards and snakes. Ryoko knew something about it but nothing in detail. She lowered the gaze to look at him. «<em>What happened, Tobe-san?</em>»</p><p>He sighed. «<em>Few days ago I started to find images and toys of those…animals. In my locker, in my classrooms, in my bag…I panicked each time and people started to mock me</em>» he explained, clearly hurt and embarrassed.</p><p>Then silence fell again between the two. Now the sky was turning dark blue and soon the University would close. However, none of them seemed to care much. Tobe and Ryoko stood admiring the sky for a little while until the girl decided to speak again.</p><p>«<em>How did it start?</em>»</p><p>«<em>I dunno…nobody knew about it except me. And I didn’t tell anyone</em>»</p><p>«<em>Tobe-san</em>…» Ryoko looked at him with a sympathetic smile, almost barely visible in the evening lights but for Tobe it was clear as the sun. «<em>The most reassuring thing I can say to you is that all emotions change…your fear too. You will not stay in a panic state for the rest of your life</em>»</p><p>Tobe smiled too, those were the first kind words he heard since that thing started.</p><p>«<em>Fear traps people. Fear puts you into a cage with no windows, where air is suffocating. You can sense your world getting smaller and smaller as you let fear consume you. Tobe-san…perseverance will be your salvation. Deal with your fear and teach it a good lesson, you're a tutor after all</em>» Ryoko chuckled and the last sentence made Tobe chuckle too. «<em>I'm not saying you have to fight against a snake, eh! What I meant is to talk with someone, to accept your feelings and improve yourself</em>. <em>Persevere, and the fear will dissolve</em>»</p><p>Tobe kept smiling at one of his freshmen. «<em>Did you have any fear, Koike-san?</em>»</p><p>Ryoko swallowed hard. «<em>Well…you know…I really hate…frogs and toads</em>» she whispered at him and both laughed quietly.</p><p>«<em>Thank you, Koike-san…I really needed that</em>»</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>·················•·················•</p><p>«<em>Did you want to see me, Ryuzaki?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Indeed Asami-chan</em>»</p><p>Since the events at the Higashi University few days have passed. Tobe Shihei was, once again, the brilliant and smart student of before despite his particular phobia. Ryoko couldn’t be happier for him, she hated seeing him in that state.</p><p>However, Ryoko had a strange feeling. Something in her mind was telling her that the entire situation was too suspicious, but she hadn’t the time to think about it that L called her at the HQ. He said he wanted to talk to her urgently.</p><p>It was why Ryoko was there, in one of the many lounges in the building, with L chained to Light and surrounded by fine furniture.</p><p>«<em>Please Asami-chan, I would appreciate if you listen without interrupting me</em>»</p><p>«<em>Go ahead then</em>» Ryoko sighed and sat on the armchair across from the two boys.</p><p>«<em>Since the deal we made I believed you would spend most of your time here, at the HQ…because your goal was to help with the investigations. However, I understood you have to complete your education and it is something essential, especially for me</em>» L started his reasoning, Ryoko didn’t know what he was getting at.</p><p>«<em>I recently noticed how your academic activities are increasing and as a consequence you didn’t come here so often…but I didn’t mind</em>»</p><p>«<em>Well, that's good</em>» Ryoko replied believing he finished his explanation.</p><p>«<em>I used the past tense, Asami-chan</em>»</p><p>Ryoko looked at him shocked. What he meant by that?</p><p>«<em>I used the past tense because at first I felt nothing. I didn’t really care about your academic career or about your friendships, both here and at the University. However, since the time of your arrest something started to change, at least in me. Of course the first logic thought was that I contracted some sort of disease but Watari reassured me I was fine</em>»</p><p>Ryoko moved her gaze to Light who was confused as well and shrugged his shoulders.</p><p>«<em>Some time passed and I started to notice how you reacted to Matsuda's friendly behaviour: you opened more to him, you laughed and talked more informally to him than you did with me. So I decided to use the same approach, my aim was to let you believe I cared about you. An example is the trip at the Edo-Tokyo Museum</em>»</p><p>At those words, Ryoko could sense her blood boiling in anger. However, deep inside her, she knew L was pretending everything. And her thoughts moved to the conversation she had with Gynos days ago about L's behaviour.</p><p>«<em>But again…something changed. You trapped me, Asami-chan</em>» in that moment he looked at her with one of his sharp gaze just to see her reaction. He saw she was surprised and that she was listening to him carefully. This encouraged him to continue his story.</p><p>«<em>Because you did something totally unplanned to me. You reciprocated my own kindness. The worst thing was that you were sincere while I was not…this made me feel sick for a while. I'm used to lie to people, making them believe what I want. But this time was different.</em></p><p><em>The situation worsened when you talked about your tutor, Mr. Tobe Shihei. I confess that when I heard your appreciation words something inside me snapped. So I apologise for what happened with your tutor, that was highly unprofessional from me. My behaviour showed a lack of professionalism</em>» L finished his cake and placed the plate on the coffee table in front of him. He was acting normally with his usual emotionless voice. However, those personal considerations in his logical narration contrasted a lot and Ryoko had the feeling that he was trying to be as impartial as he could.</p><p>«<strong><em>You</em></strong> <em>did that to Tobe-san?! You little</em>-» Ryoko started to argue but L stopped her almost immediately. He said he didn’t want to be interrupted, did he?</p><p>«<em>I was so bothered, so frustrated…I had to deal with an annoying work environment and with this sort of heart illness you created in me. What I'm trying to say, Asami-chan, that I'm 99% sure I developed affection towards you and that I would appreciate to spend more time with you here at the HQ</em>» L played with what remained of his cake, avoiding the eye contact with Ryoko. He tried to stay as collected and impartial as possible but especially in the last part his flat voice betrayed him, showering tiny hints of emotion. Ryoko saw he grinded his teeth, hid his face behind the hair and for a second she could bet she saw a faint tint of pink on his cheeks.</p><p>In the meantime, Light could see how L's previous declaration upset Ryoko. She was looking at him with confusion, shock and many other adjectives that described her shaken state. It was clear she didn’t know how to react and how to answer L. Light bet she was thinking it was another test of his: she had the right to believe it since L himself said he was used to lie to people. However, the brunette boy had the feeling that he was not lying.</p><p>"Did he just…confess?" Light thought in disbelief. For him it was like being to the theatre watching a show.</p><p>Ryoko was a blushing mess, flushed cheeks matched her red sneakers. She was truly taken aback from the sudden revelation, her mind didn’t know what to think. L was acting normally once again, did he notice what he just said?</p><p>She was so focused on L's words that she didn’t notice he was waving his hand in front of her face. «<em>Are you alright, Asami-chan? Are you ill too?</em>»</p><p>Ryoko snapped back into reality and raised her head to look at him. «<em>Y-Yeah…I think I have the same illness as you</em>»</p><p>«<em>You do? I'm feeling a lot better now that we cleared out</em>» he looked at her with a tiny smile on his pale face.</p><p>«<em>Me too, L</em>»</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>"Love comes when manipulation stops; when you think more about the other person than about his or her reactions to you. When you dare to reveal yourself fully. When you dare to be vulnerable." – Joyce Brothers.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Fusao</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>|| (A/N: be careful, description of violence ahead) ||</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>«<em>If he really thinks that a bunch of loving words could be enough to make me fall at his feet, he is completely wrong</em>»</p><p>«<em>Don't you love him, girl?</em>»</p><p>«<em>It's not that...of course he mesmerises me, I like everything about him. His words are the problem…he admitted that he lies to people and what makes me different from other people?</em>»  </p><p>«<em>Maybe the fact that you knocked out L's handler and former right-hand man after three days in confinement, you uncovered the death of one of L's major agents before anyone else and you didn’t freak out when you were kidnapped. Yeah, I wonder why he chose you</em>»</p><p>«<em>Gynos, please, anyone wise enough could do those things</em>»</p><p>«<em>I watched humans long enough to say that the cake-addicted guy is testing more himself than you</em>»</p><p>The last bell rang meaning all lessons finished for that day but Ryoko had none in that moment. She left the building followed by Gynos who, that particular day, was acting quite impudent. Once outside the building, Ryoko was almost tackled on the ground by someone trying to hug her.</p><p>«<em>Asami-chaaan!</em>»</p><p>«<em>M-Misa?!</em>»</p><p>«<em>Hello Asami-chan</em>» Matsuda greeted her once he reached Misa.</p><p>«<em>Hi guys…what are you doing here?</em>» Ryoko asked while adjusting her clothes.</p><p>«<em>Matsu told me about e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g! L confessed to you, I knew it!</em>» she was squealing like a fangirl.</p><p>«<em>He only said he has affection for me, it could be simple friendship Misa</em>»</p><p>«<em>It's not "simple friendship" if he tries to ruin another guy's life because he is jealous, Asami-chan</em>» Misa told her acting as love expert of the situation. «<em>You <span class="u">have</span> to tell me every detail!</em>» </p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ TIME SKIP ♰</strong>
</p><p>It was late night at the HQ and Ryoko had to read a book for the next lesson. She couldn’t study in her room so she decided to find Ryuzaki. She searched in the lounge but he wasn’t there; later Ryoko walked towards the monitoring room and luckily she found him.</p><p>Light was snoring lightly on the desk while L was working on his laptop. She walked closer to him and waited until he noticed her.</p><p>«<em>Did you need something, Asami-chan?</em>» he turned slightly his metallic swivel chair towards her.</p><p>«<em>Is that seat taken?</em>» she pointed at him. L looked down where Ryoko's finger was pointing and frowned a little.</p><p>«<em>That's my lap</em>» he looked at her with clear confusion.</p><p>«<em>I know what I said</em>» she replied pouting. However, Ryoko didn’t give him the time to reply that she adjusted his lap so she could sit: she opened more his legs, without "ruining" his crouched posture, and sat between them. Her back faced L's chest and at her sides were his knees; then Ryoko opened the book and started to read it.</p><p>On the other hand, L couldn’t help but blush. Not for the gesture per se but for how bold Ryoko was in that moment. He was so close to her that he could smell her fruity shampoo.</p><p>Eventually few minutes later he recomposed himself and continued to work. He didn’t mind Ryoko's presence that close to him, she wasn’t obstruct him in any way. On the contrary, L really like how Ryoko's figure wedged between his legs and from his point of view he could see the curve of her back and shoulders and how thin were her hair.</p><p>After a while Ryoko almost finished a long, tedious chapter about juvenile justice when she felt something warm in her hair. She looked away from her book and noticed that L was playing with her long raven locks, caressing from time to time the scalp.</p><p>She blushed and pretended to continue to study. L, of course, noticed her reaction and wanted to reciprocate the same bold behaviour of before. So he grasped almost all the hair and slowly he pulled it towards him making Ryoko's head fell backwards.</p><p>Once her head touched L's shoulder, he whispered in a teasing way. «<em>Seeing you between my legs is so hot</em>» and his deep voice was not helping the poor girl in that moment.</p><p>Ryoko's face turned even more red and used the book to cover her blush. She tried to make him shut up but he kept saying those things in her ears. The situation became a little funny because they had to talk without waking up Light and his reaction during the sleep made Ryoko chuckle a bit louder.</p><p>«<em>You have a case to solve, L</em>» the black haired girl told him once the giggles died in the air and the room was calm again.</p><p>«<em>And you have an exam to take, Asami-chan</em>» L replied back using his usual emotionless voice.</p><p>«<em>Don’t say it! You're making me nervous</em>»</p><p>L chuckled one more time before coming back to work.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>·················•·················•</p><p>The investigation about this new Kira were at a good point. After all those weeks of researches and reports, Light found a valid trail: it seemed that the new Kira's deaths fostered the rise of a specific bank, the Yotsuba. And in particular a specific group of executive members caught Light's attention. However, L was not enough motivated yet (despite he recognised Light was right).</p><p>In that moment, Mogi and Yagami-san entered the monitoring room with a serious and worried expression on their faces.</p><p>«<em>Hey chief! Oh you too Mogi…I've got some great news! This is amazing, I'm not even sure how he figured it out but Light has a theory that Kira is somehow involved with the Yotsuba group. And Asami-chan put together a detailed time line of those deaths! Can you believe it?</em>» Matsuda said all cheerful when he saw Yagami-san enter the room.</p><p>«<em>Yotsuba?</em>» he asked once he reached the rest of the task-force at the desk, in the screens you could see Misa brushing her teeth.</p><p>«<em>Uh…yes</em>…» Matsuda replied a little unsure, he was concerned about Soichiro's reaction at that news.</p><p>«<em>That's probably it, good work</em>» despite the compliment his face was still worried about something. «<em>We just spoke with the director and it seems Kira has offered bribes to a number of politicians…</em>»</p><p>The task-force gulped in surprise (even Light was shocked) but neither L nor Ryoko reacted at it.</p><p>«<em>Mogi and I have already made up our minds on this. Aizawa…Matsuda…if you wish to continue working this case you'll have to hand in your letter of resignation to the NPA just as Mogi and I are going to do</em>»</p><p>Silence.</p><p>Silence filled the room. You could smell tension and nervousness in that room. Ryoko, who was keeping an eye on Misa, turned towards Soichiro worried as well.</p><p>«<em>If you want my opinion, you'd be better off as police officers</em>» L's sudden statement forced everyone to turn at him. «<em>I was alone when I started this case and although I'm grateful to all of you for staying with me as long as you have</em>…» he made a little pause then he continued: «<em>I know that I can do this by myself. I'll be sure to visit you at the department and bring you Kira's head as a reward for all that you've sacrificed</em>»</p><p>«<em>Ryuzaki…as long as I'm alive you won't be working alone. You have my word on that</em>» Light added shortly after L's speech, Ryoko saw determination in his amber eyes, her gaze analysed carefully the entire situation.</p><p>As the conversation proceeded, Yagami-san talked about his "dusted CV" and Aizawa was having doubts about that whole "resignation letter" thing: he had a family and he needed that job to assure them a good life. Ryoko was feeling really bad for him and she decided to interfere.</p><p>«<em>Guys, please</em>…» she started to speak, laying against the wall with papers in her hands. «<em>Everyone, don’t take hasty decisions</em>»</p><p>«<em>Is there any way I could still keep my job and help you in my spare time?</em>» Aizawa asked trying not to appear desperate. Ryoko could only imagine the situation he was in. However, L was busier in eating cherries.</p><p>«<em>There isn’t. If you remain a police officer then please don’t come back here</em>» L chew rather loudly those cherries, ignoring his colleagues' needs. Few minutes later Ryoko saw that L had knotted together the cherries and she couldn’t help but blush. "So skilled with that tongue of his-WAIT STOP RYOKO" she thought silently, hiding his face behind the papers.</p><p>She saw how the air became tense and nervous so she decided to speak once she recomposed a little. «<em>Everyone, please…can’t</em> <em>you see what L is doing?</em>» she stated to say, Aizawa more demoralized than before. In that exact moment, L's screen turned on and a big black "W" appeared.</p><p>«<em>Ryuzaki…Earlier in the investigations you specifically told me that if a task-force member was going to lose their job under any circumstance, I should make preparations to ensure that their families' financial future was safe</em>» after a short pause Watari continued. «<em>If you recall, a trust was set aside for that very purpose. I'm a little curious as to why you're withholding this information</em>»</p><p>«<em>It's not the place nor the time for this, Watari</em>»</p><p>He apologised and the screen turned off. Then silence filled the room once again.</p><p>«<em>I warned you, guys</em>» the task-force turned towards her confused. «<em>That was a test, didn’t you see it? He wanted to test your sense of justice. He wanted to see how far you would have gone to help with the case…and Watari's statement proved that L will pay you in any case. You too, Aizawa-san</em>»</p><p>«<em>Asamiii</em>» L tried to complain with his usual monotone voice and sighed. «<em>You're ruining my game</em>…» he said with a fake sad voice because deep down he was amused.</p><p>However, Aizawa didn’t want to discuss it further and he actually left the task-force (and the HQ). Despite L admitted he was right to think about his family, for the greatest detective justice was more important. And in that moment Aizawa left.</p><p>Almost two days later, on 7<sup>th</sup> October, Aizawa's absence was balanced by two new entries: Wedy, a professional cat burglar and Aiber. The woman had shoulder-length blonde hair and a curvy figure; she wore sunglasses and bare-shouldered tops with long, black leather pants and sometimes a leather suit; Aiber was a professional con-man, a tall person with slicked back, shoulder-length blond hair and light blue eyes. He had chiselled facial features with high cheekbones and a prominent jaw.</p><p>«<em>Are you sure about them, L?</em>» Ryoko asked a bit concerned about the new members of the task force.</p><p>«<em>We already have a level of trust between us, Asami-chan. Don’t worry</em>»</p><p>«<em>Wah Ryuzaki, why she can call you "L" while we had to use your alias?</em>» Misa, who was paying a visit to Light, asked pouting his perfect face.</p><p>«<em>Because she can, Misa-san</em>»</p><p>«<em>It's not fair!</em>»</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ TIME SKIP ♰</strong>
</p><p>Fusao entered his office and sighed. He put his black overnight case on the desk next to his laptop then he sunk into the fancy armchair. Selling houses was not so easy in a large city like Tokyo, he was buried with paperwork.</p><p>«<em>Good morning Koike-san. Here's today's schedule</em>» Ogawa Tsuyoshi, Fusao's secretary, entered the office of his boss as he did every day. Ogawa was a young man with excellent organisational skills and calm behaviour. «<em>Yesterday Hashimoto-san called to remind you that today he will visit you</em>»</p><p>«<em>Thank you Ogawa-san</em>» Fusao dismissed his secretary and turned on the laptop. Since the appearance of Kira, Fusao lived in constant fear.</p><p>But why? He was a simple estate agent right? Well, yes and no.</p><p>He was indeed an estate agent, but at the same time he was someone else: Fusao Koike, as known as Mr. Cryo, was the boss of a gang that worked in the criminal underground at Tokyo. The Scarlet Moth Clan (<strong>A/N: for Japanese and Chinese, the moth also has relations to death and the souls of the dead. It is commonly believed that the souls of the dead take the shape of moths. The Japanese people also consider the moth as a symbol of the souls of the living</strong>) was the third most dangerous mercenary gang operating especially in the Japanese capital. They could kill, kidnap, blackmail or just scare someone if the fee was high enough. Fusao himself killed many times and he risked to die in any moment if Kira knew about him.</p><p>Once the laptop was on, Fusao started to check the e-mails and doing his usual work as estate agent. Soon he would leave the office to show few houses to potential buyers. But before that, his gaze moved to a photograph placed on his desk: it was a family photo with his wife Hoso, Kazuo and Ryoko during the Kyoto Gion Matsuri of few years ago (<strong>A/N: it's probably the longest festival in Japan, it lasts a whole month; there are many ceremonies held during the festival, but it is best known for its parade, the Yamaboko Junkō</strong>). He smiled at that sight, caressing the frame. Family was the most important and precious thing in his life, he would renounce at everything for it.</p><p>The serenity of his office was interrupted by a call. But this call didn’t come from his usual phone, the one he used for private and working calls, but from the <em>other</em> one. The phone he used to contact his gang.</p><p>«<em>What? Beau I'm busy</em>» he answered right away, a cold and sharp voice greeted this "Beau" guy on the other side of the call.</p><p>Fusao listened carefully at him and grinned evilly. «<em>Excellent Beau…capture them and bring them to the hideout</em>»</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>The Scarlet Moth Clan's hideout was a big and complex structure in the Japanese underground. An intricate system of tunnels made it look like a giant labyrinth but the truth was that it was quite simple to reach the main room (at least for those who knew the right path).</p><p>Cryo sat in a fancy armchair surrounded by his subordinates. They were discussing about how to get rid of certain corpses after their execution. But who were they?</p><p>«<em>Cryo-sama, they're here</em>»</p><p>«<em>Perfect Glide-kun, I want to see them</em>» he ordered. Glide nodded and left the room; few minutes later he returned followed by three other members of the Clan and three young boys: hoods over the head, scarfs around their necks and loose clothes. They were blindfolded and handcuffed so they couldn’t move nor see anything.</p><p>«<em>Here they are, boss. Kaito Yamaguchi, Reo Inoue and Touma Abe as you asked</em>»</p><p>The three teenagers started to beg and two of them were even crying. But that scene didn’t move him to pity.</p><p>«<em>Few days ago you dared to call my daughter…"slut", am I wrong?</em>» Cryo lighted up a cigarette while one of his subordinates removed violently the blindfold from the three boys' heads. When they looked at him they gasped surprised, maybe because they recognised him.</p><p>«<em>Wha-Wha-What? No wait! W-We didn’t mean to! We didn’t know she was y-your daughter</em>» one of them replied.</p><p>«<em>Shut up! The boss didn’t give you the permission to speak!</em>» Glide said to him and hurled a punch in his face. The guy cried in pain and fell belly up.</p><p>«<em>You know, Glide-kun loves discipline…he is right</em>» Cryo stated, tapping on the cigarette to remove the ashes. «<em>Mac-san, what do you suggest to do with them?</em>»</p><p>From the shadows behind Cryo a wonderful tall woman with long black hair and light eyes popped out; she was wearing a revealing dress with a very short and tight skirt and a black jacket without shirts almost completely opened. She was smoking too but her cigarette was almost over. «<em>Well, my babies are hungry, boss</em>»</p><p>«<em>Did you hear that? I think your families will have many difficulties in finding you because Mac's rats are always hungry</em>» Cryo "informed" the three boys with fake enthusiasm.</p><p>He could sense the tension and the fear in the three hooligans when he mentioned the rats. «<em>I bet you inveighed against every girl or woman you met around Yokohama</em>» Cryo said with venomous voice.</p><p>«<em>W-We no! I swear! W-We just saw a nice girl and we approached her…we didn’t want to do anything!</em>»  the one who Glide punched before spoke again. He managed to get up on his knees and trying to sound as much calm as possible (failing obviously).</p><p>Cryo got up from his armchair and walked closer to the boy. «<em>For some reason I don’t believe you</em>» Cryo put the cigarette out in the forehead of the boy making him scream in pain. Moreover, few hot ashes of this cigarette fell in the boy's eyes and he started to cry too.</p><p>«<em>Mac-san, tonight your babies will be fed</em>»</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Hazard</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>|| A/N: omg almost 300 hits?! I'm so happy~ (つ≧▽≦)つ *gives hugs*</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was a peaceful evening at Tokyo. It was not that cold and Ryoko could enjoy the chilly air around her. However, beside her someone was not that happy. For some time now, Matsuda had been feeling somewhat inadequate about the Kira case. Mogi collected successfully all datas and Soichiro had uncovered with facts which even Light and L missed. Matsuda meanwhile was just reduced to escorting Misa. As a result, he was feeling quite demotivated and out of his place. Ryoko felt bad for him, that was why she was with him in that moment.</p><p>«<em>Don’t worry Matsui. I'm sure Ryuzaki will acknowledge your efforts in the investigations</em>» they were standing one beside the other at the Nishinaka's newest movie. It was taking place near the main offices of the Yotsuba company.</p><p>«<em>Asami-chan!</em>» he said suddenly making Ryoko jump in surprise.</p><p>«<em>Yes?</em>»</p><p>«<em>I don’t want to wait until Ryuzaki admits it. I know he will never do it…but I want to chip in the investigations anyways!</em>»</p><p>«<em>What do you mean- wait! Matsui!</em>» Ryoko looked around her trying to understand what caught Matsuda's attention. She recognised the Yotsuba's building and understood everything. She could recall Soichiro's discovery that Kira-linked deaths occurred between Friday evening and Sunday afternoon in the Yotsuba offices…and that day was Friday.</p><p>Unsure what to do, she instinctively decided to follow Matsuda despite she knew she would regret it soon.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>Meanwhile, at the Kira Task Force HQ, Light Yagami was thinking back to the day he witnessed an hijack in a bus, where was then killed the main kidnapper by a car. According to L and Light's POV, Kira could kill by other ways than heart attacks. Could that kidnapper's death be an example of that? Moreover, he admitted to himself that the world would be better place if a certain types of people would disappear but he couldn’t believe that he would actually kill them.</p><p>Once back to work, Light had been hacking into Yotsuba's computer network but had found nothing related to Kira. Privately, Light recalled hacking into his father's computer but he is sure that it was part of his own personal investigation about Kira and not because he needed those information to kill people: he couldnt be Kira. (<strong>A/N: if you say so, Light</strong>)</p><p>In that moment, Watari called in order to inform L that a private detective called Eraldo Coil had been hired to track him down. He had been offered a huge amount of money (more than one milion of dollars) for his work and Watari had traced the original client to Masahiko Kida, a Yotsuba executive.</p><p>«<em>Great work, Watari</em>» L said to the screen of his computer knowing he was watching him.</p><p>Soichiro was worried since Coil was reputed to be the world's greatest detective, second only to L. L, though, told him not to be concerned since the truth was that <strong>he</strong> was Coil! He was also Deneuve, another leading detective, and this was a way for him and Watari to find anyone interested in uncovering L. The fact that Yotsuba hired Coil to track L proved the company's connection to Kira (since only him would want L dead) and he decided that it was time to involve Aiber and Wedy.</p><p>«<em>So I just need to get closer to him? No problem</em>» Aiber said with a satisfied smirk. L thanked him.</p><p>«<em>And you want me to make it possible to get around the security cameras and systems at this Yotsuba company where he works?</em>» Wedy asked L while smoking a cigarette, the sunglasses made it difficult to see her eyes.</p><p>«<em>Indeed</em>» L simply replied. "I wonder why Asami-chan is not answering my calls…" he turned his swivel chair towards the laptop and called Watari.</p><p>«<em>Yes?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Watari please, track Asami-chan's phone…she is not answering my calls. Last time she did it she was hostage in a train with Matsuda</em>»</p><p>«<em>Roger</em>» and the screen turned off.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ MEANWHILE ♰</strong>
</p><p>Matsuda arrived at the main entrance to the Yotsuba offices and realized that entering it would not be easy. Visitors needed appointments and staff had to use special cards: you could not enter like that without raising sospects. Hence, he made his way to the back entrance, followed by Ryoko, where a single security guard was based in a booth. While the guard's back was turned, both Matsuda and Ryoko snuck past into the building.</p><p>"WHY?! WHY I ALWAYS END UP IN THESE SITUATIONS?!" Ryoko thought out loud in her mind. Gynos, her Shinigami, was watching the entire scene from behind her. "MATSUDA, AFTER THIS I'M GOING TO WRITE YOUR NAME ON MY DEATH NOTE"</p><p>«<em>I don’t know if I should laugh or be worried</em>…» the God of Death said with his usual raspy voice that always reminded of someone who smoke at least an entire pack of cigarettes per day.</p><p>Pacing through the corridors, they discreetly overheard two men discussing about a secret meeting that they were due to attend and how it was regularly held on Fridays. The men entered an elevator and Matsuda noticed that they were going to the 19<sup>th</sup> floor. He was going to touch the elevator buttons but Ryoko stopped him.</p><p>«<em>No Matsuda…</em> » she pointed at a door with a sign indicating the stairs and they both hurried up them.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>At the HQ, L reminded at the task-force that caution and discretion were essential. They were up against Kira, someone who killed without hesitation. Moreover, there was a strong possibility that Kira could pass his power to kill to others which made things even more complicated.</p><p>«<em>L, I regret to inform you that Miss Asami's GPS coordinates position her inside the Yotsuba building</em>» Watari announced after a while. Everyone gasped in surprise.</p><p>«<em>I knew it was not a good idea letting Asami-chan go with Misa and Matsuda…after what happened at the Kawasaki metro station</em>» Soichiro said out loud while rubbing his dark moustaches.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>Unaware of all this, Matsuda and Ryoko reached the 19<sup>th</sup> floor of the Yotsuba building but Matsuda stopped near the elevator.</p><p>«<em>Asami-chan, stay here…hide if you think you could be in danger</em>» he whispered to her and Ryoko nodded, finding a sort of utility room in that corridor. She entered the room and watched the scene through a tiny split of the door.</p><p>Matsuda walked towards some close doors; however, despite putting his ears to them, he could barely make out what was being discussed inside. After an hour, he was still glued to the door and judging from his expressions, he uncovered something important, but at that moment the door opened and two men appeared.</p><p>«<em>Who the hell are you?!</em>» one of them shouted out surprised. For the sudden action, Matsuda fell on the ground. A bit far from them, Ryoko was in a cold sweat, more worried about her fate rather than Matsuda's one. She saw the two men that surprised him escorting him somewhere else.</p><p>Ryoko was in trap but she had to act fast and efficiently. So she took her phone and sent a message to Ryuzaki: "𝚈𝚘𝚝𝚜𝚞𝚋𝚊 𝚋𝚞𝚒𝚕𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚜𝚎𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚝 𝚖𝚎𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝟷𝟿𝚝𝚑 𝚏𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚛. 𝙼𝚊𝚝𝚜𝚞𝚍𝚊 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝. 𝙸'𝚖 𝚒𝚗 𝚊 𝚞𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚖".</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ AT THE HQ ♰</strong>
</p><p>When L received the message from Ryoko he couldn’t stop his hands from shaking. His dull black eyes widened in shock and they couldn’t look away from his cell phone. When Light asked him what was wrong he took a glance at the phone and gasped.</p><p>«<em>Matsuda was caught by the men of the Yotsuba and Asami-chan is stuck in the building!</em>» he uttered in surprise.</p><p>«<em>Who is this "Asami" girl?</em>» Wedy asked once her cigarette was over.</p><p>«<em>She's…uhm…L's significant other I guess?</em>»</p><p>«<em>You guessed right, Yagami-san</em>» L replied quite annoyed, a harsh and cold voice came from his mouth. «<em>Yagami-san, please call Matsui's cell phone</em>» he ordered and extended a hand to grab the phone.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>«<em>Need a hand, girl?</em>» Gynos asked Ryoko, now with her in the tiny and dark utility room.</p><p>«<em>No Gynos…if Kira is in that room it means the Shinigami is there too. And I don’t want to die</em>» she whispered. «<em>Once outside I'm going to slap Matsuda hard …how did he convince me in taking part at this?!</em>»</p><p>«<em>He used his big childish eyes, I guess</em>»</p><p>«<em>Damn him</em>»</p><p>Ryoko found a hidden corner of the room to sit down and think. She had two chances: the first was to go back through the same route as before; the second was to reach the 30<sup>th</sup> floor (thus the roof). Why the roof? Because Ryuzaki replied at her previous message with a single letter: "H". With not much effort, she understood L was talking about the helipad in the roof, maybe Watari would come to pick her up. However, she couldn’t be sure that he would do it so the first option seemed to be the best one in that moment.</p><p>Not long after that, Ryoko heard weird sounds from outside. She peeked from the door and saw Misa with Matsuda.</p><p>"Misa-Misa? What is she doing here?" then she saw her entering the room where the executives were doing their meeting. "Using Misa…as distraction. But why? Well uhm…it could be…" Ryoko tried to think hard about the real reason behind that choice and then, after few minutes, she realised everything.</p><p>"Since Misa is an actress and a model too, she had to convince those people to leave the building with an excuse …so Ryuzaki could observe them and save Matsuda. Yes, nice move…but what about me?"</p><p>«<em>It seems your knight in the shining armour has different priorities</em>…» Gynos interrupted Ryoko's thoughts.</p><p>«<em>I don't need a knight, Gynos. I can save me by myself</em>» she whispered and closed again the door. Then she heard noises again and after a while silence. A silence that suggested that the floor (and maybe the entire building) was empty.</p><p>"<em>Now I can go</em>" Ryoko left the utility room and took the stairs. She changed her mind and decided to go to the roof because at that hour there will be security guards everywhere, especially downstairs. Ryoko had to be careful because she couldn’t know if the building was truly empty or some employee decided to stay in their office and sleep there.</p><p>She left behind the 20<sup>th</sup>, the 21<sup>st</sup> and the 22<sup>nd</sup> floor without any problem: 8 more floors and she would reach the roof. However, at the 23<sup>rd</sup> floor Ryoko saw many lights turned on and few people that were still occupying their offices. She was going to continue her silent escape when she heard voices coming not far from her. They were discussing about boring paperwork and other things; Ryoko stopped abruptly, half hidden thanks to the darkness of the staircase. She could hear their steps coming louder and louder…closer and closer. She didn’t know what to do: go downstairs and find a hiding place in one of those floors or fight those people?  </p><p>Adrenaline ran inside her teenage body and she couldn’t think properly. Ryoko could even see the shoes of one of those people, everything seemed doomed but a *ding* stopped everyone.</p><p>«<em>Ah finally! Let's take the elevator</em>» the group of people walked away from the staircase and all the lights were turned off. Ryoko stood there, paralyzed by fear: fast breath and hot tears poured her face. Gynos had to physically touch her in order to distract her. Ryoko snapped back into reality and kept going up.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ TIME SKIP ♰</strong>
</p><p>Freezing cold air hit Ryoko who wore only thin clothes in that moment. She was at the 30<sup>th</sup> floor of a building where Kira probably worked. That was great.</p><p>«<em>I hope Matsuda is right about that…because I'm going to kill him by myself</em>»</p><p>Well, now that she was on the roof…what was her next move? The first thing she thought was to call Ryuzaki and using what remained of her phone's battery she tried to contact L. After few rings someone picked up.</p><p>«<em>Ryuzaki! You replied at least</em>»</p><p>«<em>Miss Asami, it's Watari</em>»</p><p>Ryoko's gaze darkened when he heard his voice. She was still mad at him because of what he said during her confinement, she couldn’t forget that.</p><p>«<em>Ah Watari-san…is Ryuzaki available? I have…a little problem</em>»</p><p>«<em>No Miss Asami. Ryuzaki is driving a helicopter right now</em>»</p><p>«<em>Oh, he is driving a helicopter</em>» she repeated calmly, then she realised what he said and she gasped shocked. «<em>Driving a helicopter?!</em>» she uttered. The raven haired girl was so focused on her call that she didn’t immediately notice a chopper right behind her; only when a strong wind surprised her she turned and saw indeed a helicopter with L piloting it.</p><p>«<em>You're right, it's not a knight in a shining armour…but a detective in a shining helicopter</em>» Gynos said half-laughing.</p><p>She stared at it in disbelief realising she understood his message right. Ryoko kept observing the helicopter while L positioned it in a good position to let Ryoko climb in. The doors opened and Soichiro appeared gesturing Ryoko to hurry up.</p><p>She ran towards it and Soichiro helped her to get in; shortly after that the helicopter flew away from the Yotsuba building.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>·················•·················•</p><p>Ryoko was in her room at the HQ; she took a long and hot shower to wash away all the fear she felt those hours. However, since L came with the helicopter at the Yotsuba building, he didn’t speak to her…at all.</p><p>«<em>I'll text mum and then I'll eat something…I hope Watari left the kitchen open</em>» Ryoko put some heavy clothes and was going to open the door of her room when someone knocked.</p><p>«<em>Yes…</em>» she opened the door and found L and Light standing there: the brunette boy had a sympathetic smile on him and he suggested with his eyes that "L was quite annoyed", while Ryuzaki had a serious frown despite most of his face was hidden behind his black hair.</p><p>L didn’t give the time to Ryoko to do or say anything that he walked (without permission) in her room, pushing her aside with the shoulder. Light was forced to follow him and apologised with his eyes. Ryoko closed the door now annoyed as well.</p><p>«<em>How are you feeling, Asami-chan?</em>» Light was the first to break the silence. Both him and L were sitting at the edge of Ryoko's bed.</p><p>«<em>Much better now, thank you Light</em> »</p><p>Then a tense silence filled the room, poor Light was in the middle of a possible argument. Ryoko wasn’t in the mood of discussions but she realised that L deserved an explanation (despite he probably figured it out already).</p><p>«<em>Why were you even there?</em>» he asked slowly, his emotionless voice made it difficult to understand what he was feeling and the fact that his face was still hidden made it twice harder to decipher him.</p><p>«<em>I didn’t want Matsuda to go alone…I didn’t imagine that he wanted to go <span class="u">inside</span> the building</em>»</p><p>«<em>Matsuda is an idiot, of course he would do something stupid Asami-chan</em>»</p><p>«<em>Stop talking about Matsuda like that, Ryuzaki</em>…»</p><p>«<em>If he stops being stupid I'll stop as well</em>»</p><p>«<em>Don’t make a scene here</em>…» Ryoko sighed almost forgetting how childish he could be sometimes.</p><p>«<em>I should be allowed to make a scene after what you did</em>»</p><p>…Wait.</p><p><em>Wait</em>.</p><p>Was he…worried? For real? Was L serious when he confessed? Ryoko believed it was another giant test of his, just to let down her guard to gain a confession…a sort of psychological trick much like the White room?</p><p>The detective moved away his hair from the face and looked sharply at her. «<em>How can you be so smart but not be able to realise what you did? I expected from Matsuda those stupid initiatives but not from you</em>» L stood up and walked closer to the girl.</p><p>«<em>Did you realise how I felt when you sent me that message? I was so…upset that you let yourself get involved in Matsuda's effort to be useful. You were in danger, Asami! Kira could have killed you and I couldn’t do anything! I wasn’t in control! I wasn’t</em>…» despite the outburst, L wasn’t raising his voice or sounding menacing. On the contrary, he was calm and collected as always. His voice betrayed him showing clear worry and distress. He then sighed and massaged his nose in an attempt to put himself together.</p><p>Ryoko was astonished by that sudden display. Astonished and confused. She knew L was someone used to lie so she wasn’t truly concerned about him: had she to believe him or not?</p><p>The black haired girl sighed feeling guilty. «<em>Listen Ryuzaki, I…I'm sorry. You're right I didn’t think clearly and I risked a lot…I’m sorry I messed up</em>» she looked down at the floor playing nervously with her shirt. Ryoko left behind her mask made of assumptions and deductions, so the most emotional (and weak) part of her personality could pop out.</p><p>She couldn’t see it because she was focusing more on the floor but L was staring at her intensely. Maybe he had doubts too? His sharp gaze softened a little bit and took Ryoko's face in his hands.</p><p>Light, far behind Ryuzaki, couldn’t hear (or see) what the two were doing (or saying). Not that he wanted anyway. He was feeling so embarrassed in that moment, he wanted to disappear. From his point of view, it seemed the two were exchanging whispered love words but he wasn’t sure. It would be a long night for sure.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Her</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ryoko was hugging her pillow during her sleep: it was warm, soft and the breath was so steady…</p><p>Wait…</p><p>Steady breath?</p><p>A pillow?</p><p>Ryoko woke up suddenly. She had a clear image in her head of the moment she hugged her pillow to fall asleep faster. So why she felt that something was off?</p><p>She rubbed her light brown eyes to remove the last traces of sleepiness and looked where her pillow was supposed to be and she gulped in surprise. There was no pillow! Ryuzaki took its place instead.</p><p>"Why is he here? This pervert snuck during the night…" she chuckled and sat on the bed observing the cute scene in front of her: L was lying on his left side, knees pressed against his chest (as if he was sitting normally) and thumb over his pale lips. From his breath he seemed deeply asleep.</p><p>Ryoko moved away some of his black locks from his face to watch him better. L had a long, roman nose, no eyebrows or facial features, resulting from the mixture of European and Japanese blood. He looked like a white sheet (or canvas) ready to be painted with a wonderful work of art.</p><p>She touched his cheek: no reaction. "He must be a heavy sleeper" she thought. She tried again caressing his cheek. Ryoko entered in a state of pure bliss because his skin was so soft: no imperfections or wrinkles. It was like touching a baby's skin.</p><p>"I would sound crazy if I want to know his body odour? Maybe yes…"</p><p>Then her gaze moved down. "Damn, that jawline is so sharp!" (<strong>A/N: episode 22 if you want to check &gt;w&gt;</strong> ). She traced the line of the bones and oh dear if it was sharp. Almost cutting.</p><p>Ryoko was still in her bliss state when Ryuzaki woke up (and she didn’t notice it). She was going to poke L's cheek one more time but something stopped her. She looked down and saw L's intense stare and his hand that caught her finger. She yelled in surprise and she almost fell over the bed but Ryuzaki caught her by the wrist, "saving" her from the fall.</p><p>«<em>What were you doing?</em>» he asked once Ryoko laid beside him on the bed.</p><p>«<em>M-Me? Nothing!</em>» she tried to sneak away from L but he blocked her against the mattress.</p><p>«<em>Confess, Asami-chan. I caught you on the crime scene near the body</em>» he grabbed the other wrist so Ryoko would not slip away from him. Luckily he was not on top of her but Ryoko was blushing anyway.</p><p>«<em>Fine! I'll confess!</em>» she tried to wiggle out of his grasp in vain. «<em>I was touching your flawless skin</em>»</p><p>«<em>It's not enough, Asami-chan…there's more</em>» his face was few centimetres far from Ryoko.</p><p>«<em>You're too close L!</em>» she uttered still in a blushing mess but he didn’t move a muscle. «<em>Your skin is so soft! It's like touching a baby, I couldn’t help myself!</em>» Ryoko replied all in one breath just to put an end to that embarrassing situation.</p><p>L's gaze softened and freed her from his grasp. «<em>That's it, Asami-chan</em>»</p><p>Ryoko sat on the mattress again and adjusted her PJs and hair. «<em>Why are even here in the first place?</em>»</p><p>«<em>What do you mean "why"? I'm your significant other, I'm allowed to sleep with you</em>»</p><p>«<em>Who told you this?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Misa-san hinted at it, once</em>» L put his thumb against his lips in a thoughtful manner. Ryoko sighed at that sight.</p><p>«<em>Married people sleep together, L. Or engaged couples</em>» Ryoko didn’t know if L was serious or if he just playing with her. Could someone like L being so "inexperienced" about couple habits?</p><p>«<em>Being a couple is not enough for this protocol, Asami-chan?</em>» he then asked curious like a child.</p><p>«<em>Are we a couple, L?</em>» Ryoko climbed down from the bed and searched for some fresh clothes in the wardrobe. She glimpsed at him one more time before going taking a shower.</p><p>She undressed, putting the PJs in the laundry basket; she opened the shower valve waiting for the hot water and in the meantime she looked at herself in the mirror. When she felt the room was hot enough she entered the shower and closed the curtains.</p><p>Ryoko washed her hair first; despite at the HQ Watari chose neutral flavoured body wash and shampoo, Ryoko didn’t mind that much. At home she had much more pleasant bathroom products.</p><p>«<em>What does "being a couple" mean for you, Asami-chan?</em>» L's voice made Ryoko jump in surprise and couldn’t hold back a little yell. She peeked from behind the curtain and saw L sitting on the ground next to the laundry basket.</p><p>She sighed and continued to wash her hair. «<em>It's complicated…being a couple means to be by your partner's side no matter what, I think. Or it means putting your partner's needs before your own…and involving them even with the small decisions</em>» Ryoko rinsed the lather and started to wash her body. She didn’t hear any answer from Ryuzaki so she thought he left.</p><p>About five minutes later she was going to step out from the shower when L spoke again. «<em>But Asami-chan…you're Kira and I don’t want to stay by a criminal's side. However, I have already realised that I feel an attraction for you …You make me feel all the things I shouldn’t feel</em>»</p><p>«<em>And you want us to be together?</em>» Ryoko closed the shower's valve, took the bathrobe and only when she was covered by it she left the shower. She noticed L was still on the ground deep in thought.</p><p>«<em>Correct</em>» he stood up and turned towards the bathroom door, his back faced Ryoko. «<em>What about you, Asami-chan?</em>»</p><p>Until that moment it was L the only one who openly confessed his feelings from the beginning but not Ryoko. Actually, she was not experienced about boys and love, she never contemplated things like that.</p><p>«<em>I</em>…» she hesitated first but eventually she continued sure about her feelings. «<em>I</em> <em>have never been in love before. For how I was educated, my only goal was to succeed in school. Well, my parents' goal</em>» she used a towel to dry her black hair.</p><p>«<em>But now…when I'm around you…it's like someone can understand me for once. I don’t need to repeat myself twice, I don’t have to explain everything I say over and over and…I don’t have to pretend anymore. I'm allowed to be…myself for once</em>» during her speech she was playing nervously with the wet towel, she hadn’t the courage to look at him. Ryoko didn’t even know if L was still there or not.</p><p>She removed the wet towel from her head, the hair didn’t have a precise order. Ryoko looked in front of her at the mirror and from the reflection she didn’t see L in the bathroom anymore. She sighed and looked down, a bit hurt that he left.</p><p>Suddenly she felt two strong arms around her (that almost matched her white towel). Ryoko gulped in surprise recognising L's reflection behind her.</p><p>«<em>I hope my deductions were wrong and you aren’t Kira</em>» he whispered in her ear and then rested the head against her shoulder. A wave of regret hit Ryoko from inside.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>·················•·················•</p><p>In this entire story, our Shinigami Gynos hadn't a say in the matter not even once. It was being a while since he told his point of view about what was happening around him and his favourite. He wondered if the other Shinigami were judging him from the Realm.</p><p>He recalled the conversation he had with the other Gods of Death very clearly. They were quite shocked about Ryuk's behaviour on Earth and Gynos added something that left them even more shocked.</p><p>«<em>I'm gonna have more fun than Ryuk…it's a bet</em>»</p><p>It was dangerous, yes, he admitted it but he decided to run the risk. Ryuk was pretty shrewd, he knew how to have fun with humans. But Gynos was sharp too: he never lost a bet. Thanks to his attitude to do gambling, he even won the red Death Note he gave to Ryoko.</p><p>The fake fur of his long jacket moved at each movement he did, the Japanese task-force passed through him as is he was a ghost. Well, technically he was a sort of ghost to them. Until someone touched Ryoko's Death Note he would be a silent presence to those detective.</p><p>Gynos was watching the scene in front of him: Soichiro was working at his desk, Matsuda was reading something at the computer, Mogi brought some reports to Light and then the object of Ryoko's attention: L the detective. The Yagami boy and the detective were still chained together so Ryoko had few private moments with his love interest. Was that how humans called their partners, right?</p><p>In addition, he noticed something unpleasant. Not for him, of course, but it could cause some…emotive reaction in Ryoko. In the room where he was staying, among all those people, someone's numbers were decreasing drastically. The meaning? Someone in that room would die soon.</p><p>The lifespan: the amount of time that an individual will live for. That was what he meant by "someone's numbers". Those things floated above everyone's heads inevitably, as a reminder that all humans will die. Gynos hadn't the courage to tell Ryoko. Well…the truth was another one actually. Yes, Ryoko was his favourite (and this could cause his own death sooner or later) and he didn’t want to see her suffer but the Shinigami had the feeling that the entire situation was planned by Ryuk. Or worse, by the owner of his Death Note. And Gynos couldn’t help but wait for the grand finale. </p><p>They were all playing a giant game, after all.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>Ryoko and L found new discrete ways to express affection: for example, Ryoko would kiss the corner of L's eyes out of nowhere or trying to groom, to brush or to tend to his hair; on the other hand, L would boop Ryoko's nose from time to time, he would lace his fingers with hers or brushed a strand of raven hair behind her ear while she was studying. They were quite cute together, discrete yet passionate in their own ways.</p><p>In the meantime, the investigations about the Yotsuba Kira continued. The executives did their usual Friday meeting, unaware that they were being observed by the task force. From their HQ the detectives noticed that only seven of the eight suspects were there: who was missing? And why were they dressed in black? Ryoko doubted they were mourining the missing person.</p><p>One of those men, Takeshi Ooi (a broad, bald man with a pair of oval glasses) began the meeting by asking, without many roundabout expressions, who will be their next victim. Of course, Light and Soichiro gasped in horror, Matsuda -on the contrary- happily uttered that he was right about the Yotsuba group but L was not so enthusiastic: in fact, this sudden admission bothered him. Ryoko noticed his strange behaviour during the watching. After a while the name of Eraldo Coil popped out from the conversation.</p><p>«<em>Eraldo Coil? Who is it?</em>» Ryoko asked curious. Maybe were they a sort of serial killer or mercenary?</p><p>«<em>He is the second most famous detective in the world, Asami-chan. Yotsuba contacted him in order to obtain some information about L…but the truth is that Eraldo Coil is L himself. And Devenue too</em>» Soichiro replied since nobody seemed to mind her.</p><p>Ryoko raised both the eyebrows in surprise. L was the greatest detective in the world literally. He was the first, the second and even the third best detective…that was amazing at least from Ryoko's point of view.</p><p>However, she noticed L was quite worried for some reason.  He was so concerned that he started biting his nails.</p><p>"Why is he so tense? He should be happy or satisfied since they were confessing right in front of him" the raven haired girl thought, something about him was off. "Or…is he worried because everything is that simple?".</p><p>As the meeting proceeded more and more details about their plan came out. The group seemed to be bothered by an American insurance company called Elf which was planning to set a branch up in Japan. This was a bad news for their affairs. Light and Soichiro were extremely shocked and wanted to act fast in order to prevent those deaths.</p><p>«<em>What these seven say at this meeting and their actions until the people mentioned are killed…if we examine those closely</em>…» L stated to say while eating ice-cream with some fruits on it. «<em>We'll definitely catch Kira</em>»</p><p>«<em>Ryuzaki!</em>» Light and Soichiro uttered in shock at the same time. They were upset by this attitude and insisted that they could not allow the killings "for the sake of investigations". L explained it was too risky and they would ruin the entire case.</p><p>When the Yotsuba men agreed to kill the next month, Soichiro quickly took out his cell phone intending to contact them.</p><p>«<em>Wait, Yagami-san</em>» Ryoko stopped him by grabbing gently his arm. «<em>Think for a second</em>…»</p><p>«<em>What do you mean, Asami?</em>»</p><p>«<em>If you do that call, they will be suspicious of Eraldo Coil when he contacts them in three days</em>»</p><p><em>«Asami-chan is right</em>» L spoke from behind her, a cup of tea in his hands. «<em>It's highly likely that we will no longer be able to determine who Kira is…We've come this far and we'd have to start over again</em>» he elegantly took a sip of his hyper sugary tea. «<em>To catch Kira, we need the proof</em>»</p><p>The truth was that L didn’t know how to prevent the deaths without ruining his case. Light then proposed contacting one of the men, one who was unlikely to be Kira but who had considerable influence over the others. L and Light eyed a man with smooth, long, black hair: Reiji Namikawa.</p><p>The meeting was still ongoing when Namikawa's cell phone rang. When he answered it, he was startled when the caller announced that he was L (well no, it was Light). Ryoko noticed how Namikawa didn't flinch so much at that news. "L" told him to stay calm and listen to him. He informed him that he was watching the meeting since the beginning, but he was prepared to make a deal: "L" wanted Namikawa to delay the planned killings for a month and in return whoever was not Kira wouldn't be accused of any crime.</p><p>«<em>At this rate, if I die you could probably become the successor to the L name, Light-kun</em>» L told him quite impressed by Light's plan. Ryoko observed the scene from her desk not too much far from the two handcuffed boys.</p><p>«<em>You might be able to do it, Light-kun</em>…» L grabbed two sheets of paper using only the thumb and the index finger as usual, in order not to leave too many fingerprints.</p><p>«<em>Be your successor as L?</em>»</p><p>«<em>No, that wasn’t what I was thinking, <strong>but</strong></em>…» the detective paused for a moment then continued. «<em>If I die, would you take over for me?</em>»</p><p>"Yes, you're thinking about something else…but about what?" Ryoko asked to herself, was that another test?</p><p>Light quickly realised that L was testing him: for him it was clear that L still suspected Light of being Kira and was expecting him to accept the offer of being his successor: as Kira, he would have both the power to kill and the means to influence the world's police and thus becoming untouchable and unstoppable.</p><p>«<em>If the cake-addicted guy is right, that Yagami forfeited the property of his Death Note in order to lose the memory. Without the memories of him being Kira he could not confess anything, putting the sugar addicted guy in a bad light in front of those humans…eh! So sly</em>…» Ryoko's God of Death, Gynos, spoke from behind her. He, much like Light did few minutes ago, voiced her thoughts.</p><p>"I think L is right…it could be something that the real Kira would plan. Assuming that there are two other Kira there could be two options: the first one is that the current Kira has the first or second Kira's Death Note and with it the Shinigami too. The second option is that there is another Death Note on Earth, a fourth one, that we are ignoring…" Ryoko was deep in thought, focused about L's last statements.</p><p>«<em>Are you alright, Asami-chan?</em>» Matsuda asked her, a worried expression on his innocent face. Ryoko snapped back in the real world and looked at him.</p><p>«<em>Yes, Matsuda</em>» she smiled at him and he smiled back.</p><p>Back to the two handcuffed boy's argument, Light asked L point blank if he honestly believed that after catching the current Kira, Light intended to become Kira, a heartless murderer.</p><p>"I think you were once, Light" Ryoko thought for a moment. L confirmed that that was his belief and Light punched him in the face while L kicked him back. Matsuda quickly broke them up while Soichiro, in the background, said a faint «<em>Not again</em>» while watching the scene.</p><p>However, Soichiro himself was still anxious to stop the killing of criminals and pressured L to arrest the entire Yotsuba group using the conference footage as evidence. However, L remarked that there was a possibility that Kira could not be among them but an outsider who acted on their instructions. In other words, there was a tiny possibility that despite police arrested the group, the killing wouldn't stop.</p><p>«<em>The killing of the criminals <strong>might</strong> stop</em>…» L underlined the word "might" by doing a little pause before concluding the sentence.</p><p>«<em>But isn’t limiting victims the most important thing?</em>» Soichiro said in pure shock, a hint of anger in his voice. Clearly he didn’t understand anything by working with L.</p><p>«<em>Yagami-san</em>…» Ryoko stopped him from saying anything else and looked at him. «<em>We understand we're talking about human life but please, observe the situation from another point of view. The chances that Kira will be caught using your way are slim and in the long term the killings will just continue. Your way doesn’t necessarily mean that the killing of criminals will stop</em>»</p><p>«<em>Asami! We should do all we can as long as there's a chance!</em>»</p><p>«<em>I realise that, Yagami-san. You could stop those crimes, the crimes committed by the Yotsuba, but the case cannot be solved until Kira is caught</em>»</p><p>«<em>Asami</em>…» L gently called her, his voice always changed when addressing to her, and she turned to look at him. «<em>Don’t waste your breath…I will go after Kira on my own. We have a month, it's a race</em>» L climbed down from his chair and grabbed Ryoko's wrist and alongside with Light the three left the room. With that gesture, it seemed L effectively broke up the Kira Task Force.</p><p>L, Light and Ryoko went to Misa's room; L quizzed her over her feelings: did she love Light? Did she admire Kira? She answered yes at both questions. But Light wanted to capture Kira, so now what was she going to do? Putting her love for Light over her admiration for Kira, Misa answered that she thought he should be captured as well and will willingly help Light in his investigation.</p><p>«<em>I think I've been totally wrong about you this whole time…calling you a pervert and all. You really do understand me</em>» Misa told L with shining eyes.</p><p>«<em>Yes, Misa-san is the perfect woman for Light-kun</em>» L replied while looking away from both Light and Misa. Then Misa did something really unexpected: she kissed L on the cheek. Ryoko had the courage to blow up her cover just to write her name on her Death Note; behind her calm features she was boiling.</p><p>«<em>Thank you, Ryuzaki!</em>»</p><p>«<em>Misa-san, I would appreciate if you would limit your acts of affection to Light-kun. I have already someone</em>»</p><p>«<em>No please</em>» Light replied alarmed.</p><p>«<em>How about being friends, Ryuzaki?</em>»</p><p><em>«Yes…I gained another friend</em>»</p><p>And then, all of sudden, Misa, Light and L started to twirl hand in hand. That was a strange show to assist, Ryoko stood aside. She was still focused about the kiss Misa gave to L that she almost yelled in fear when she was dragged in that twirl.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Step</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was already October 21, 2004. Ryoko was cold 24/7 and it didn’t matter the number of sweaters she wore, she would be cold anyway. Sometimes Matsuda would lend her his jacket and she was really grateful, that simple gesture kept her warm for hours at the HQ. However, when she was at home at Yokohama or at the Higashi University she would be a frozen statue.</p><p>She was in the middle of the lesson period so she couldn’t be much present at the HQ. Luckily Matsuda would keep her informed all the time.</p><p>«<em>Koike-san, here's your notes about "Adult Psychopathology and Treatment"</em>»</p><p>«<em>Thank you Tobe-san. This afternoon I have to hand in my assignments to Hirito-sensei</em>»</p><p>«<em>I know you can do it, you're her favourite</em>»</p><p>After that unpleasant incident about Tobe's phobia, Ryoko's tutor came back as efficient as always. Everyone discovered a more human trait of his being since every student, until that moment, believed he was a sort of cold machine. Always so meticulous and conscientious, it seemed that incident had many positive results after all.</p><p>«<em>Koike-san, I was wondering</em>…»</p><p>«<em>Yes?</em>» Ryoko wasn’t looking at him in that moment, she was more focused on the notes in her hands.</p><p>«<em>I was wondering if you want to eat something after the courses. I heard Ichiran had a new menu for Halloween</em>» (<strong>A/N: Ichiran=a Japanese ramen food-service business specializing in tonkotsu ramen, a dish based on pork bones and other ingredients, which are typically boiled for several hours</strong>)</p><p>«<em>I would love to, I practically adore Ichiran ramen</em>»</p><p>Later that afternoon, around 6pm, Tobe and Ryoko left the Higashi. Since the University was not in the main centre of Tokyo, they had to take the train. Tobe noticed the girl's distress and she told him about the experience at the Kawasaki metro station (<strong>A/N: chapter 8</strong>). Her tutor realised that to keep her calm he needed to distract her so Tobe started to ask her many questions about different stuff.</p><p>Ryoko didn’t notice how fast time passed and she was surprised when Tobe stood up warning her that they were arrived. The walk from the station to the restaurant lasted 20 minutes and once inside Ichiran, Ryoko was hit by the delicious smell of ramen; the place was small and it reminded a long corridor: the walls had wooden plates while on the ground there was a wall-to-wall carpeting in a neutral colour; there were no tables but a single and long wooden table that recalled a bar counter; each seat had black and red stools and was separated from the others by a sort of board.</p><p>«<em>Please, give me your jacket Koike-san</em>»</p><p>«<em>Thank you</em>» Ryoko gave it to him and found two nearby seats. The wooden board forced the two to stick their heads out to talk; after a while they wrote up the sheet they took at the entrance, a sheet that the client had to fill out to let the chefs know what kind of ramen they wanted.</p><p>«<em>Richness…medium. Then a drop of garlic…with green onion and very spicy</em>»</p><p>«<em>Do you like spicy food, Tobe-san?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Yeah, a lot</em>»</p><p>During the dinner Ryoko took many photos of Tobe busy with his spicy ramen: the strange expressions he made were truly amusing. They spend a wonderful dinner at Ichiran and around 8:30pm they left the restaurant.</p><p>«<em>Do you want me to walk you home, Koike-san?</em>» Tobe asked while adjusting his glasses on his nose, a lock of dyed blonde hair fell from his beanie.</p><p>«<em>I don’t live in Tokyo…actually my home is at Yokohama</em>»  </p><p>«<em>I can come with you if you want</em>…»</p><p>«<em>I'll call my father, he works here</em>» Ryoko took his phone and called Fusao Koike, her father. If she was lucky he was still at Tokyo and he could get her with the car.</p><p>Indeed, she was lucky. Fusao was still in the city and he would go to pick her up once he left his offices. Ryoko informed Tobe about her father's answer and together they walked until the parking lot of the Tokyo station.</p><p>After a while, around 20 minutes later, Fusao's car appeared and stopped right in front of the two. Fusao's long black coat flew in the cold hair of Tokyo once outside the car.</p><p>«<em>Hi dad</em>»</p><p>«<em>Hello honey</em>» he walked closer to her daughter and ruffled her hair.</p><p>«<em>He is Tobe Shihei, my tutor at the University</em>»</p><p>Tobe bowed in respect. «<em>Good evening, Koike-sama. It's nice to meet you</em>»</p><p>Fusao looked the boy up and down: long, slender legs and slim body (the tight clothes made him look slimmer than normal), short and dyed blonde hair and a pair of hazel eyes behind the glasses. According to Ryoko's words he was quite smart and dedicated to the studies, he could represent a good marriage prospect for Fusao's daughter.</p><p>«<em>The pleasure is mine, Tobe-san. I heard from Ikki that you're very talented as a student</em>»</p><p>«<em>I like what I'm studying, that's all sir. I want to start my career as Criminal Psychologist as soon as possible</em>»</p><p>«<em>It's good to hear, my daughter wants to start that career too…maybe one day you'll become colleagues</em>»</p><p>«<em>That would be nice, sir</em>»</p><p>Fusao and Tobe exchanged few other words then they all say goodbye. Ryoko and her father stood in silence for most of time in the car until Fusao asked her something really embarrassing.</p><p>«<em>Have you ever considered dating that boy?</em>»  </p><p>Ryoko opened her eyes wide, in shock. «<em>Dad!</em>»</p><p>«<em>I don’t want be rude, honey. He seemed someone that has a good head on his shoulders</em>»</p><p>«<em>Dad please…Tobe-san is not my type</em>»</p><p>Right, Ryoko didn’t tell anyone about her and L. L himself suggested not to tell anything about them especially for their safety. And Ryoko agreed mostly because she wasn’t someone that spilled the tea about her personal life.</p><p>«<em>Alright</em>…» Fusao dropped that topic and drove towards Yokohama.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ TIME SKIP ♰</strong>
</p><p>In the meantime, the plan started. Aiber (in the role of Coil) agreed to work at Yotsuba. He realised that they wanted him to share the risks, like having his face picked up by security cameras (and thus potentially be at Kira's mercy) or be subject to arrest for complicity in murder. However, he requested a little pay rise to the original price in return and Ooi agreed.</p><p>Few days later, Aiber had to prepare Misa for the imminent interview with the other Yotsuba members. L instructed Soichiro to use Mogi to play the role of Misa's manager (since Matsuda "died" not long ago). However, Mogi felt quite out of place: he was a reserved, who didn't speak or smile that often. Misa needed him to be more talkative, nice and outgoing. He felt uneasy: he was a detective not an actor.</p><p>During the interview (and with a great effort), Mogi tried to smile pretending to be excited and happy especially when they arrived at Yotsuba and he introduced Misa to the executives.</p><p>«<em>Go, go Misa! Your trusted manager Mochi will start making preparations for our party after you land this commercial!</em>» he loudly wished her luck, waving vigorously the arms in the air. Once he was alone in the lobby, however, he sat down and sighed: "I'm not suited for this…right?" he thought concerned.</p><p>At the HQ, Ryoko found time to reach the task-force after a long day at the Higashi. She still had the bag with her books when she entered the main monitoring room.</p><p>«<em>Matsuda, you seem worried…everything's alright?</em>» Ryoko asked once she placed her bag on her desk.</p><p>«<em>Asami-chan! I'm concerned about Misa Misa! She is doing an interview inside the Yotsuba building and we don’t have any information yet</em>» he replied walking back and forth in the room.</p><p>«<em>We don’t know in which room the interview will take place and if we had attached cameras to Misa-san, she would have been in greater danger</em>» L explained while drinking his usual sugary tea. «<em>This is what my team is doing, so you guys don’t have to worry over it</em>» he extended an arm towards Ryoko, a signal for her to come closer to him.</p><p>She did as (silently) requested and walked beside him. He used the arm to hug her hips and with the other he handled her a cup of tea. Ryoko accepted the warm tea and thanked him with a smile; she took a sip and sighed happily. She observed that Light was examining something at the laptop and seemed deep in thought, maybe he uncovered something.</p><p>"The original Kira only kills hardened criminals. The Yotsuba Kira has a totally different approach than the first: they kill just anyone reported on the news" Light thought, his eyes glued to the bright screen. "If a criminal kills someone by car incident, that person will die in the same way. Anyone can tell that it was an accident and the original Kira would not have bothered. They are also known to spare killers if he thought that their victims actually deserved to die…"</p><p>Light relaxed on his chair. However, his face was not relaxed. He seemed a little troubled at the fact that the original Kira's ideals were similar to his own. On the other hand, he was sure that L had also noticed the different patterns but had not raised them. But why? Light wasn’t sure.</p><p>In that moment Light and Ryoko exchanged a quick glance.</p><p>«<em>I don’t understand anything here, girl</em>…» Gynos was trying to sneak on Light's computer, in vain apparently. For a thousandth of a second she looked behind Light, towards Gynos, then back at Light. The brunette boy followed her gaze but he, obviously, didn’t see anything.</p><p>«<em>So Ryuzaki</em>…»  he turned to look again at his laptop.</p><p>«<em>Yes, Light-kun?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Any important development about the Kira that acts at Yokohama?</em>»</p><p>«<em>This Kira is not as important as the first or the current one, Light-kun. It's just immature like a child who tried to mimic the adults. Nothing to worry about</em>»</p><p>«<em>Do you truly believe it or it's just because Asami-chan is the prime suspect?</em>»</p><p>Now L's attention was fully focused on Light. «<em>What to do mean?</em>»</p><p>«<em>You keep saying that I'm Kira but what about Asami-chan? You believed she was Kira as well so why aren’t you investigating about her? Only because she is your…significant other it doesn’t exonerate her from her presumed crimes</em>»</p><p>«<em>You said it right, Light-kun…"presumed" crimes. Your crimes are quite obvious from my point of view</em>»</p><p>«<em>Isn't your judgement clouded by your feelings, Ryuzaki?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Unlike you, Light-kun, I'm able not to be overcome by feelings. If Asami-chan is guilty she will perish as law commands</em>» L glared at him and the Yagami boy snorted not fully convinced.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>·················•·················•</p><p>
  <span class="u">October 25, 2004. </span>
</p><p>The situation inside the HQ was becoming tenser as days passed. Once again Light was arguing with L about something. And for the umpteenth time, Ryoko was there with them assisting at their discussion.</p><p>Light was arguing about L's plan to use Misa in the operation. Soichiro then declared out loud that he was going to go on TV to reveal everything: the Yotsuba Kira Group, the killing of their competitors and so on.</p><p>«<em>What do you think, Light?</em>» Soichiro asked his son, maybe to have some sort of support at least from him.</p><p>«<em>Dad, I'm sorry but I have to agree with Ryuzaki. Unless Kira is caught, the killings won't stop</em>» Light crossed his arms and looked at Soichiro with the corner of his eyes. «<em>If we arrested all seven of these guys then there's a chance it could stop, but not with your plan. And announcing the names of the seven to the media would create chaos</em>»</p><p>Realizing that nobody was with him, Soichiro agreed to do it another time, he proposed a month and to work with L again. L accepted this but Soichiro supported Light's objection of using Misa in dangerous operations.</p><p>«<em>I see</em>…» L replied slowly. Then suddenly Mogi and Misa entered the room. It seemed that the young idol's interview went well and she was hired by the company. Misa thought that she had to accept their offers and investigate further, but L told her that the plan changed. At first she complained but Light then insisted that it was for the best.</p><p>«<em>Light, want to come to bed with me?</em>» Misa asked once near the door.</p><p>«<em>What are you talking about, Misa…?</em>»</p><p>«<em>I know, we're saving that until after you catch Kira. Don’t be so shy, Light</em>» Misa replied from the corridor.</p><p>«<em>Don’t be so shy, Light-kun</em>» L said to him, dragging himself in the conversation. Once again he was drinking coffee, grabbing the cup only with the thumb, index finger and middle finger.</p><p>«<em>I'm not</em>…» Light replied upset now looking at L.</p><p>«<em>Why are you answering so seriously, Light-kun?</em>»</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>♰ TIME SKIP, THAT NIGHT ♰</strong>
</p><p>«<em>Asami-chan, I made a decision and I would appreciate your opinion</em>»</p><p>«<em>About what?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Us</em>»</p><p>The bedroom at the HQ had nothing special, it reminded a hotel room. In that moment L and Ryoko sat together (only for that night Light was chained with Watari) on the bed surrounded by darkness and looking outside the large window in front of them. On the other side of the window the beautiful sight of Tokyo at night created a suggestive scenario.</p><p>«<em>Yes?</em>»</p><p>«<em>I was thinking about Light-kun and Misa. Their love seems strong, don’t you think?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Yeah but…I have the feeling that it's one sided</em>»</p><p>From afar in the sky, Ryoko noticed red flashing lights and realized it was an airplane. The stars were not visible even from that height but she didn’t mind.</p><p>«<em>I want to take a step forward</em> <em>with you, if you agree of course</em>»</p><p>«<em>What is it?</em>»</p><p>«<em>I want to make love with you</em>»</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Ehehe you know what's coming &gt;w&gt;</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Window [Lemon]</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>|| A/N: be careful, this is a  very long lemon so you will find heavy sexual descriptions ahead. Sorry if it's too long but I'm not good in sum up things so meh! Enjoy the smut time &gt;w&gt; ||<br/></strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>This is my first lemon, sorry if it's bad written. </strong>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>«<em>I want to take a step forward</em> <em>with you, if you agree of course</em>»</p><p>«<em>What is it?</em>»</p><p>«<em>I want to make love with you</em>»</p><p>The airplane was out of sight, for a moment Ryoko wondered where it was going. Then when L revealed his intention, her face became as red as those lights on the airplane. Luckily, darkness surrounded the bedroom and it was nearly impossible to distinguish their faces.</p><p>«<em>I never did it</em>…» Ryoko confessed after a while, still not answering at L's previous statement.</p><p>«<em>Neither did I, Asami-chan</em>. <em>However, I know the basis of a sexual intercourse</em>»</p><p>No more planes in the black sky. Ryoko really needed something to distract her mind from all the obscene thoughts she was having. She thought about how everything started: the first encounter at the To-Oh, when he revealed himself to her in the cafeteria, her arrest in the White room followed by the collaboration in the Kira case. Then she reflected about all the events that brought them closer: the kidnapping, the incident at the Yotsuba building, the nights spent in reading papers in order to let Ryoko fall asleep.</p><p>How much time passed? Months already. And for Ryoko it seemed an entire life. At first, she said Ryuzaki disgusted her since he used strange methods during the investigations. But then, after a while she started to appreciate his particular being, so unique and not well understood. Ryoko couldn’t image, at the time of her arrest, that one day L would ask her to make love with her.</p><p>«<em>What do you think, Asami?</em>»</p><p>Ryoko snapped back in the real world and looked at him. Well, she tried to look at him, the room was still dark.</p><p>«<em>I want to do that too, L</em>»</p><p>Then an embarrassed air filled the room. Since neither of them did it, they didn’t know what to do.</p><p>Ryoko decided to use what she read in novels to do the first move: she lowered L's legs, so he was sitting normally, and then she sat on his lap.</p><p>«<em>Asami?</em>» for a moment L's usual emotionless voice betrayed him showering confusion.</p><p>«<em>In this, L, you don’t have to think. There's no logical deduction in making love…let your body and your instinct speak. They won't deceive you</em>»</p><p>Ryoko took his face in her hands brushing with the thumbs the cheeks, soft skin against soft skin. She hesitated before moving closer in case he didn’t want any of that. But L wasn’t moving away from her so Ryoko understood she had the permission to continue; so she kissed him. At first he didn’t react, maybe he was questioning himself about the entire thing or was trying to elaborate a full sense thought. But L set aside his usual methodical manner and kissed her back, quite greedily actually.</p><p>L had a sweet taste of strawberry ice-cream while Ryoko tasted like mint and L couldn’t have enough of it. Once they separated they were panting heavily, a string of saliva still connected them. However, Ryoko hadn’t the time to catch fully her breath that L kissed her again. This time he took control of it, devouring her rosy lips as if he was eating his favourite shortcake.</p><p>Like the lips, hands started to move too. Ryoko sunk her fingers in L's hair, admiring the softness and the texture; on the other hand, L was bolder than her and grabbed her hips without much force. However, he felt under his fingertips that his gesture caused her a shiver; he smirked in the kiss and the reaction made him determined to do more.</p><p>Ryoko, who realised L's plan, forced him to lay down on the bed. If the room had the lights on, she could see how his dark hair contracted with the neutral coloured bed sheets and how the movement caused his shirt to raise a bit revealing the pale skin of his stomach.</p><p>«<em>Are you still thinking?</em>» Ryoko asked him once they caught their breaths after the kiss.</p><p>«<em>What?</em>» it was all L said, clearly he was not thinking like he always did. He was more focused on what to do next, he didn’t want to ruin this moment.</p><p>The detective was still trying to clear his mind, in a desperate effort to be rational, when Ryoko started to kiss his neck. At first she believed that L was totally insensitive on the neck (or that his erogenous area was not the neck) until she heard a noise when she reached the trapezius. Ryoko decided to try again and instead of kissing that muscle she bit it.</p><p>«<em>A-Ah!</em>∼» L moaned quietly almost imperceptibly, but not for Ryoko. Then she heard a faint smack, meaning he covered the mouth with a hand.</p><p>«<em>I already found your soft spot, you're such a cutie pie</em>» she abused that spot until she was sure a mark would be visible the next morning. In the meantime, L was trying his best not to make any other noise and at first he managed to stay quiet. But when the pleasure became too much he groaned (still faintly).</p><p>«<em>This hickey will look good on you tomorrow</em>» Ryoko said rather predatory and even if she couldn’t see well in the dark bedroom she was sure about her work. «<em>Don’t cover your mouth; I want to hear you</em>» she took his hand by the wrist and kissed its palm; then she went high up towards the fingers, still kissing each portion of his skin. Once she reached the fingers the girl started to lick them like L did when he eats ice-cream. When the fingers were wet enough she put them in her mouth causing L to groan again, especially when he sensed her tongue against his fingertips. Ryoko wanted to be sure he would remember each feeling the next morning so even the simplest and daily move would make him blush.</p><p>Ryoko felt L's breath becoming faster and sometimes she bet he was moving his hips towards her to have more contact. Since she wanted to have fun for a little longer she stopped licking and sucking his fingers. Believing she had the control of the situation, she let down her guard for a moment and L took advantage of it: he grabbed her by the wrist and thanks to a swift movement he was on top. Then he hurried and blocked both her wrist with a hand and turned on the light of the lamp on the nightstand with the other.</p><p>«<em>I have to see you</em>» once again his voice betrayed him and much like Ryoko few minutes ago, he showed a rather dominant behaviour. He had a strange, mischievous smirk on his face, an expression Ryoko never saw on him. She was shocked yet pretty aroused by it, she liked how bold was L in that moment.</p><p>"Are these his "basis"?" she thought. Maybe she was expecting a shy L during his first time but it seemed she was wrong. For someone with no experience at all, he sure knew how to drive her <em>wild</em>.</p><p>«<em>Now it's my turn, Asami</em>» L started to explore her body starting from the neck. Unlike him, Ryoko was only shivering at the contact of L's lips to her neck, no moans or other reactions. To have more access, L removed Ryoko's dark green sweater throwing it somewhere in the room. Another piece of clothing was in the middle, an undershirt, and L removed it too; now Ryoko had only her bra in the upper part of her body.</p><p>He immediately attacked the collarbone, using both teeth and tongue to trace the bone on the skin and when he touched a specific point, Ryoko made one of the sweetest sound he ever heard. Eager to hear more of it, he bit, licked, kissed and nibbled many times that point. She was going to have a hickey too.</p><p>L kept going down until he stopped at her breasts, still clothed by the bra. Ryoko was still panting and moaning when she realised where he was; the two exchanged a quick glance and L reached behind her back to unclasp it. The bra joined the sweater on the ground and Ryoko, instinctively, covered herself.</p><p>«<em>Don’t cover yourself… you will be always beautiful to my eyes</em>»</p><p>Ryoko removed the arms from the chest and L stared at it. After a while that stare became embarrassing.</p><p>«<em>If I touch them, will I receive those sweet sounds of yours?</em>» L asked alluring, his hot breath hit Ryoko's skin making her shiver. «<em>I wonder if</em>…»</p><p>He used his skilled tongue to lick and his lips to bite the soft sensitive skin of those breasts. Just as planned, every touch and lick made her squirm and moan rather loudly; once the nipple was red enough he saved the same treatment for the other one. It seemed he was eating a profiterole with too much cream that was trickling outside.  </p><p>He moved away from her bosoms with a loud *pop* and then he looked at her, observing her current state. Ryoko was panting, dark red blush on her cheeks and clouded eyes. L found that gaze quite arousing, he felt his lower part of the body twitch. He bet she had the same eyes in that moment since Ryoko wasn’t looking away from him.</p><p>She had the energy to grab the hem of his white shirt in an attempt to let him understand he had to strip as well. L acknowledged it and removed his shirt with a swift movement.</p><p>Ryoko had in front of her the pale yet slightly toned body of the greatest detective in the world. Much like the face even the body hadn’t any flaw: no scars, no moles nor birth marks. Anything. He was beautiful and perfect, at least for Ryoko.</p><p>He crawled back on top of her, kissing the girl on the forehead, then the cheeks, the nose, before finally landing his mouth on her own, their chests touched. That sudden intimate contact made L's crotch twitch in ecstasy and making him eager and greedier for that. As a result, the kiss became more and more passionate and rough, Ryoko could sense L's hardness against her stomach and that intensified her own arousal.</p><p>«<em>I want worship you all night long…will you let me?</em>» he asked her looking directly at her chocolate brown eyes. Both their gazes were clouded by lust…lust and love.</p><p>Ryoko nodded and L didn’t waste any more time: he kissed every curve and traced with the tongue each stretch mark, admiring and tasting each part of her body until he arrived at her pants. L looked up at her to ask silently the permission to continue and Ryoko nodded slightly with the head.</p><p>L unbuttoned the pants with the teeth <em>incredibly slow</em>. Damn, Ryoko had to make a huge effort not to undress by herself quickly. <em>L was teasing</em>.</p><p>«<em>Could you</em>…?» Ryoko asked quietly.</p><p>«<em>What, Asami-chan?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Stop teasing…please</em>»</p><p>«<em>I'm not teasing, I'm taking my time…are you hungry, Asami?» </em>he whispered against her panties, he was nipping tentatively at the cloth. Then, as slow as before, he removed her black pants and shortly after that the panties too. However, Ryoko still had the legs tight closed. L noticed how she would become shyer when it came to her private area; he seemed not to mind, maybe he didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable.</p><p>Ryoko was still thinking about if to open or not her legs at him, exposing her heat at his gaze that L raised and removed his own pants and underwear. He was full naked now and Ryoko noticed a trail of black hair that started from under his navel to the pubic region. She inhaled almost instinctively, admiring the naked body of her love interest in front of her.</p><p>He was, once again, on top of her for another kiss. Like the others, it became feverous quickly and Ryoko completely melted under his touch. She spread her legs so L’s body was now in between them, she gulped when his length rested on her heat and this broke the kiss.</p><p>«<em>Do you want me to stop, Asami?</em>» he quickly asked, his black eyes were full of concern.</p><p>Ryoko shook the head in response, trying to reassure him. «<em>No. It's my first time and I don’t really know what to do…I'm just surprised, that's all</em>» she said while looking away with a blush.</p><p>L's gaze softened, realising Ryoko's fears. That part of her, so emotional and scared, rarely came out in public. So he felt quite…happy?...in seeing how much she trusted him.</p><p>«<em>I’ll be gentle, I promise</em>»</p><p>«<em>It’s going to hurt, right?</em>»</p><p>L stared at her for a moment: had he to lie to her? Or had he to tell her the truth? «<em>Yes, it’s probably going to hurt, Asami</em>»</p><p>Ryoko sighed. She already knew that the first time would be painful but she wanted to be sure. Maybe she wished a different answer.</p><p>«<em>There's a way to make it more enjoyable, if you let me</em>»</p><p>Ryoko's eyes shone in happiness. L smirked in mischief before descending between her legs. She gasped in surprise again when his head was at the same level of her "jellyroll", as L called it. A new wave of heat burned in her cheeks as L’s hands pinned Ryoko's knees apart and placing them on his shoulders. L gazed at her for a moment; he let out a deep and aroused breath…and it hit Ryoko's wetness making her squirm in anticipation.</p><p>Without hesitation, his head dived in between her legs. L's skilful tongue caused her an unfamiliar yet pleasant shiver, it made her eyes shot open in delight and her fists tighten grasping at the bed sheets. His tongue swung around, touching all the right places. His lips grazed over Ryoko's clit multiple times, causing her to spasm below his touch. That reaction encouraged him to do more and he licked eagerly at her sex, his tongue sliding deeper into her.</p><p>Ryoko bucked up the hips, desperate for more contact. Her moans, whimpers and cries were music to L's ears and he could sense his own hardness growing at each groan of hers. He didn’t know for how much time he would have control of him. A few more licks and nibbles and Ryoko was already shaking beneath him. Her hands found his hair, pushing his mouth closer to her as much as possible.</p><p>Ryoko could sense a knot in her stomach, a new feeling was getting closer and closer. L noticed from the way she was breathing that she was going to reach her climax. However, he never lowered his pace.</p><p>«<em>L! Don't stop! Please, don't stop!</em>» Ryoko said almost yelling, the detective had the feeling she was going to rip off all his hair. Then, suddenly, L felt a new, addicting taste in his mouth: a bittersweet taste, much like that chocolate with more chocolate and less sugar than milk chocolate.</p><p>Ryoko was tired and sweaty. L was in the same conditions as he raised his body on top of her, eyes filled with love and lust. He kissed her and she could taste of her own arousal on his tongue. She moaned in delight and the kiss silenced that sound; however, Ryoko could not hold her cries when L, maybe not intentionally, made a movement that caused himself to rub against her heat.</p><p>Until that moment, the detective only emitted soft and faint groans but that movement made him moan as well followed by a shiver of pleasure. <em>He wanted more of it</em> so he did it many times making his moans a bit louder.</p><p>«<em>L</em>…» Ryoko breathed out in bliss. «<em>I need more, please. All of you</em>»</p><p>He stopped moving, almost abruptly, and Ryoko whimpered for the loss. «<em>Are you sure?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Yes…I never craved someone both intellectually and physically as you, L. I want to be one with you</em>» </p><p>After that, L entered slowly into Ryoko's heat, a sudden wave of pain burning into her. She gasped, digging the nails into the skin on his back and shoulders.</p><p>"That's…damn…it hurt so bad…" the raven haired girl though, her eyes closed shut. The way she was scratching him suggested how much she was suffering; if she dared to open the eyes she was sure tears would pour out.</p><p>Ryoko felt L's lips on her face, soft, loving and reassuring words were said to calm her from the sudden pain. «<em>Relax, love, and it will be over soon</em>»</p><p>Once she felt a bit more relaxed, she nodded for him to continue. His gaze darkened with desire and started to move slowly at first but then, gradually, he picked up speed. He was right, the pain soon melted into pleasure. Shortly after that, his actual speed wasn't enough for her so Ryoko started to contrast L's thrusts.</p><p>L realised her cue so he began to move faster, thrusting at a normal pace. The feeling of his girth pumping in and out of her was driving her crazy: in and out, repeating it again and again many times. Ryoko was a moaning mess but her volume raised suddenly when L hit a specific bundle of nerves inside her.</p><p>«<em>Again! Please, do it again!</em>» she pleaded desperate. L accomplished and increased his speed hitting that spot many times. For the pleasure, Ryoko arched her back, the fingers scratched L's back with more force. His black eyes were locked on hers: his pale lips were parted slightly, small pand soft moans came through with each thrust. Since L had all-black eyes, almost dead, it was hard to see how much his pupils were dilated. But there was something clear in those eyes: exposure. Despite the "dead-eyes", Ryoko could see all of his emotions: love, lust, need…and trust.</p><p>In the meantime, L dropped his head into the crook of her neck as he increased again the speed. His hot breath made Ryoko shiver and she could sense his cock twitching inside her. Judging by his groans, Ryoko didn't have to wonder if he was enjoying or not himself as much as she was.</p><p>«<em>You are beautiful, Ryoko</em>» the use of her real name caught Ryoko off guard. The sound of her name was so pleasing that made her shiver in delight. Feeling the knot at her stomach close once again, she bit her lips while moaning his name (well, his alias). His thrusts became sloppier, a signal he was close too. His glans continuously pounded against her g-spot, sending intense shudders in her lower regions.</p><p>Very soon, they reached their end. They shouted each other’s aliases as they both climaxed at the same time. A muffled and low groan came out from his throat as he stopped, his eyes rolled back, and his seed shooting deep inside of Ryoko as her muscles spasmed around him. She was unable to move as much as L. He was immobilized on top of her, elbows at the side of her head as their chests touched slightly.</p><p>The only sound in the room was their deep breaths. Then L pulled off and laid next Ryoko on the bed; she turned to look at him and noticed how absently he was observing the ceiling. She smiled at him even if he couldn’t see her. Maybe he was recording that moment in his mind.</p><p>«<em>How are you?</em>»  Ryoko asked him since he was more silent than usual.</p><p>L looked away from the ceiling to focus on the girl next to him, his eyes were tired and his face relaxed for once. «<em>Splendidly, Ryoko-chan</em>» again, he used her real name instead of her alias. Such a cutie pie.</p><p>She smiled again at that sight, he was so cute in that moment. Ryoko snuggled against his chest, hugging him tightly.</p><p>«<em>W-What are you doing, Asami?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Cuddling</em>»</p><p>«<em>But I have to come back at the monitoring room…there's a case to solve</em>»</p><p>«<em>I know but you're not going anywhere now</em>»</p><p>«<em>Asami-chan</em>…»</p><p>«<em>No, it's time for cuddles now</em>»</p><p>«<em>Asami</em>» when he called her once again, his tone was more serious than before. Almost if he was scolding a little kid for being impertinent.</p><p>«<em>At least until I fall asleep, please?</em>» she tried to convince him with her sweet voice and since he didn’t reply it seemed to work. So Ryoko kept cuddling in his arms and deep down L was enjoying that affection.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>The feeling called "love".</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>The feeling of embracing the warm flesh of another human being, skin against skin. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>I don’t care if it's a lie or a strategy, Ryoko. It doesn’t matter to me right now. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>You poisoned me. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>And even if you're going to betray me, I don’t care either. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>But please, let me feel that sensation again. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Let me feel loved again, if only for a moment. </strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <strong>L.</strong>
</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>If you want, you can follow me on tumblr; the name is "formenis" -w-</p><p>https://formenis.tumblr.com/</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Turning point</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After Ryoko and L's night of passion, the raven haired girl didn’t spend much time at the HQ due to University courses. However, thanks to Matsuda, she knew how the situation was progressing.</p><p>It seemed that our beloved Misa, after some sort of personal secret operation that involved her sister, returned to the Kira Task Force HQ dressed with a nurse uniform and announced that Higuchi was Kira, she said he confessed it to her! To prove it she played a recording on her cell phone of their conversation. This entire situation left L and Light speechless, according to Matsuda.</p><p>«<em>I could sound dumb, girl, but I really want to know your plan</em>» Gynos was flying silently behind her creating a long dark shadow upon her. Since Ryoko hadn’t L's agents behind her anymore, she could talk freely in the streets. In that moment a cute pink mask on her face and a pair of headphones were extremely helpful to talk with the Shinigami.</p><p>«<em>I waged on L, some time ago</em>»</p><p>«<em>Without me?</em>» oh, Gynos and his obsession with gambling.</p><p>«<em>It was a silent bet, Gynos. I'm trying to manipulate his feelings for me to obtain some sort of clemency from him in the case he wins</em>»</p><p>«<em>And the deal? He made a deal with you</em>» Gynos rightly told her flying in front of her. Ryoko walked through his flimsy skeletal body without efforts.</p><p>«<em>He will never fulfil it. Not now that he is so close to the Yotsuba Kira…if he lays a hand on the Death Note, I'm screwed</em>»</p><p>«<em>So you hope that his feelings for you are that strong to avoid prison?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Something like that…however</em>» Ryoko paused, took a moment to think before continuing his discourse. «<em>At the same time I want to give up, Gynos. I want to abandon everything to stay with him, to live with him and…to help him</em>»</p><p>The god of Death noticed tears in her light brown eyes and felt really bad for her. «<em>You know…if you forfeit the property of your Death Note…you'll lose every memory of it. So you wouldn’t confess anything and live…your life as you wish</em>» he replied tenderly, with a voice Ryoko never heard from him. It was comforting, something that didn’t suit a God of Death.</p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="u">October 28, 2004</span>
</p><p>The task force needed to see it. L needed to see it: Kira's weapon, Kira's power. Since L didn't want to repeat the events about Light's own arrest, he hesitated a lot involving Misa once again in the operations. On the other hand, Higuchi's profile indicated that he was hardly of the same level as Light in the role of Kira.</p><p>«<em>Yagami-kun, please seriously analyse what I'm about to say. How you answer may determine if we can capture Kira</em>» L started terribly gravely. «<em>Light Yagami was Kira. And Kira's power passed on to someone else while Light Yagami has forgotten that he was once Kira. I want you to analyse what I say while assuming those statements are true</em>» the detective was scrutinizing Light with his sharp black eyes.</p><p>«<em>You can do that?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Okay, I'll try</em>…» Light replied a bit sceptical.</p><p>«<em>Light Yagami was Kira. And the power passed on to someone else…did it pass on though Light Yagami's will? Or is there someone operating behind the scene who switched the power to someone else? Which is it?</em>»</p><p>Long story short, L again raised his suspicion that Light was Kira but passed his powers on to someone else and then forgot all about it. Thinking carefully, Light replied that it would have been done by his own free will.</p><p>«<em>If there was someone behind this, unless he was here with us, he'd have to be looking down on us constantly from heaven or something. If he could do that, then he'd even know what we're saying right now</em>»</p><p>«<em>Such a being cannot exist</em>…»</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>The plan to arrest Higuchi began at Sakura TV. Two figures, hidden by tinted glass panels, were talking about the Kira case; the guest revealed that he was in possession of all the evidences to expose Kira's real identity to everyone. However, one of the tinted glass panels fell on the ground and the guest face was clear to the cameras: it was Taro Matsui (or Matsuda). Namikawaand Higuchi, who were watching the program while on the phone together,that Matsui must have faked his own death when he fell from Misa's balcony. Soon enough Higuchi realized that the name "Taro Matsui" was a fake.</p><p>With a countdown of two hours, Higuchi was desperate to kill him especially if Matsui had those famous "evidences". Higuchi took a gun and the Death Note and got in his car, unaware that Wedy was following him on a motorbike and Misa, Light, and L were watching from Task Force headquarters.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>Light and L prepared to leave HQ but before that L handcuffed Misa and chained her to a chair since she would be left behind unsupervised.</p><p>«<em>Huh?! What's this?! You gotta be kidding</em>…»</p><p>«<em>Misa, do as he says</em>» Light insisted and Misa accepted reluctantly.</p><p>Light and L went to the building rooftop where they took off in a helicopter, piloted by L. Also on board was Watari with a rifle in his hands. Using a GPS system to the track Higuchi's car, they realized that he was actually driving towards the Yotsuba offices.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>Surrounded by armed police wearing special helmets, Higuchi had no option but to surrender. He got out of the car, was handcuffed by policemen, and his eyes were sealed shut with tape. From the helicopter, L asked him to explain how he killed, warning that they would settle for desperate measures if he said the false. The Yotsuba executive quickly confessed.</p><p>«<em>It's in my bag in the car!</em>» Higuchi shouted without the tape around his mouth.</p><p>«<em>Yagami-san…please check to see if such a thing is in the car</em>…»</p><p>Soichiro nodded and walked closer to the car. Actually, he found this notebook and picked it up from the ground. He was looking at the names written in it and when he looked up from it he suddenly gave a piercing scream.</p><p>«<em>Looks like only those who touch the notebook…can see it. There's a monster</em>…»</p><p>L asked Mogi to bring the notebook to the helicopter. Mogi obeyed and once the Death Note was in L's hands, he could now see the monstrous creature Soichiro was talking about: white skeletal figure with long arms and white hair. Paralyzed and shaken by fear, L's thoughts kept flooding in.</p><p>"This is Kira's method of killing…</p><p>Kira…</p><p>The second Kira…</p><p>Light Yagami was Kira…he'd never use it in front of me…but…</p><p>Kira…the second…</p><p>At least two notebooks exist…this isn’t over yet"</p><p>Then, suddenly, Higuchi screamed and collapsed to the ground. Dead.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>«<em>Well, Higuchi could have committed suicide…he had the power to kill, it's not impossible that he could kill himself</em>»</p><p>«<em>But he killed by writing people's names down in the notebook. So wouldn’t he have to write his own name down?</em>»</p><p>The Kira Task Force returned to its HQ. They were joined by Aizawa again who was coordinating with his own team. In the meantime, Ryoko arrived at the building as well despite the late hour. At first she went at the monitoring room but it was locked from inside.</p><p>"Strange…" she glanced at the camera in the corner of the hallway for a second then she left that part of the building to lead towards one of the many lounges. After thirty minutes of walking she found Misa and Ryoko sighed in relief.</p><p>«<em>Misa…what's happening? The monitoring room is locked</em>»</p><p>«<em>Asami-chan!</em>~» she cheered with her usual high-pitched voice. «<em>You will never believe it! They caught Kira!</em>»</p><p>From her point of view, Misa could see a surprised face. A normal reaction after an information like that, everyone would be surprised. But the truth was another one: Ryoko was panicking. The heart was beating fast, the palm of her hands was sweaty and she could sense her knees shaking slightly.</p><p>All she could think was how much she was screwed in that moment.</p><p>"I'm doomed…L realised everything for sure.</p><p>Hopeless…no future…L will…" Ryoko kept repeating those negative words in her head like a mantra when suddenly reality distracted her.</p><p>«<em>Light!</em>» she rushed behind Ryoko making her raven hair flew in the process. «<em>You've really come to see me?</em>»</p><p>Ryoko put herself together with her usual and collected mask of hers. She turned towards the couple and faked a smile.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>·················•·················•</p><p>«<em>Since the task-force believes what…uhm…what's the name, Gynos?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Rem</em>»</p><p>«<em>Yes. Since they believe what she said, my name is not completely clear in the investigations</em>»</p><p>«<em>Why?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Because my confinement lasted three days and not fifty like Light or Misa. So, based on the rule of the thirteen days all the suspects would be on me</em>»</p><p>«<em>Yes but you were tortured in the meantime. Something the brunette boy didn’t experience</em>»</p><p>«<em>So what are you going to do?</em>» Gynos continued after a while.</p><p>«<em>I want to help L as best as I can…even if this means sacrificing myself</em>»</p><p>If it was possible for him Gynos would frown. He didn’t like this turn of events. «<em>How?</em>»</p><p>«<em>With a story…and cards</em>»</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>
  <span class="u">The night between October 31<sup>st</sup> and November 1<sup>st</sup> 2004</span>
</p><p> </p><p>"𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖈𝖔𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓𝖘 𝖔𝖋 𝖉𝖊𝖆𝖙𝖍 𝖜𝖎𝖑𝖑 𝖓𝖔𝖙 𝖇𝖊 𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖑𝖎𝖟𝖊𝖉 𝖚𝖓𝖑𝖊𝖘𝖘 𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖞 𝖆𝖗𝖊 𝖕𝖍𝖞𝖘𝖎𝖈𝖆𝖑𝖑𝖞 𝖕𝖔𝖘𝖘𝖎𝖇𝖑𝖊 𝖋𝖔𝖗 𝖙𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖍𝖚𝖒𝖆𝖓 𝖔𝖗 𝖈𝖔𝖚𝖑𝖉 𝖇𝖊 𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖘𝖔𝖓𝖆𝖇𝖑𝖞 𝖆𝖘𝖘𝖚𝖒𝖊𝖉 𝖙𝖔 𝖇𝖊 𝖈𝖆𝖗𝖗𝖎𝖊𝖉 𝖔𝖚𝖙 𝖇𝖞 𝖙𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖍𝖚𝖒𝖆𝖓. 𝕬𝖑𝖙𝖍𝖔𝖚𝖌𝖍 𝖎𝖙 𝖎𝖘 𝖕𝖔𝖘𝖘𝖎𝖇𝖑𝖊 𝖙𝖔 𝖈𝖔𝖓𝖙𝖗𝖔𝖑 𝖆 𝖕𝖊𝖗𝖘𝖔𝖓'𝖘 𝖆𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓𝖘, 𝖎𝖋 𝖆𝖓 𝖎𝖒𝖕𝖔𝖘𝖘𝖎𝖇𝖑𝖊 𝖘𝖎𝖙𝖚𝖆𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 𝖎𝖘 𝖜𝖗𝖎𝖙𝖙𝖊𝖓 𝖉𝖔𝖜𝖓 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖕𝖊𝖗𝖘𝖔𝖓 𝖜𝖎𝖑𝖑 𝖘𝖎𝖒𝖕𝖑𝖞 𝖉𝖎𝖊 𝖔𝖋 𝖆 𝖍𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖙 𝖆𝖙𝖙𝖆𝖈𝖐." From "How to use it"</p><p> </p><p>Since the beginning of the Yotsuba investigation, L and Light were handcuffed to one another and Misa was confined to rooms with surveillance cameras. L now agreed to remove the handcuffs and allowed the idol to leave the building and resume a normal life. Now that L was free from Light, he could focus more intensely. He was going to call Watari when he pre-empted him.</p><p>«<em>Ryuzaki, you have to see this</em>»  </p><p>.</p><p>
  <span class="u">Few minutes before, 12:00am; Place: Kanazawa district, Yokohama (Japan) </span>
</p><p>A man in his forties robbed a young couple. In the fight, he killed both of them. However, he realised that the robbery was not much fruitful and he wasted two bullets in vain.</p><p>Then suddenly, as if he was controlled by some sort of force, he took from his pocket a piece of paper and a pen. He knew exactly what he had to write.</p><p>Five minutes later, when he finished writing the text, he put the paper in the pocket of his jacket and then he took his gun. The man aimed to his temple and…</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>L was observing carefully the dossier displayed on his laptop about a death classified as "suicide" by the police of the Kanazawa district. But if Watari wanted him to see this there must have a good reason and said reason appeared clear when L read the note:</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>"𝐿, 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝒾𝑒𝒸𝑒𝓈.</p><p>𝐼𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝑔𝒾𝓃𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔, 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝒳𝒱. 𝐻𝑒 𝓇𝓊𝓁𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓁𝒹 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓅𝑒𝑜𝓅𝓁𝑒 𝓉𝓇𝓊𝓈𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. Lacrimosa</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>A/N: ANGST, ANGST EVERYWHERE, please be careful. I also modified the original Mozart's piece of the requiem to fit better in the chapter, please don’t hate me.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Since midnight of November 1<sup>st</sup> a series of deaths scattered around the prefecture of Yokohama caught L's attention. They were not that obvious, of course. It was hard to find them among the Yokohama Kira daily killings.</p><p>It was almost 4am and L was waiting anxiously for the fourth suspicious killing and thus the fourth note. Until that moment he managed to gather what it seemed to be a short story.</p><p>.</p><p>"𝐼𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝑔𝒾𝓃𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔, 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝒳𝒱. 𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓎 𝓇𝓊𝓁𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓁𝒹 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓅𝑒𝑜𝓅𝓁𝑒 𝓉𝓇𝓊𝓈𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂. 𝒪𝓃𝑒 𝒹𝒶𝓎, 𝒳𝒱 𝑒𝓃𝓉𝑒𝓇𝑒𝒹 𝒶 𝒷𝒶𝓀𝑒𝓇𝓎 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒻𝒶𝓋𝑜𝓊𝓇𝒾𝓉𝑒 𝒹𝑒𝓈𝓈𝑒𝓇𝓉: 𝓈𝓉𝓇𝒶𝓌𝒷𝑒𝓇𝓇𝓎 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓇𝓉𝒸𝒶𝓀𝑒.<br/>
«<span class="u">𝑀𝒶𝓎 𝐼 𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓅 𝓎𝑜𝓊, 𝓈𝒾𝓇?</span>» 𝐼𝐼 𝒶𝓈𝓀𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂 𝓀𝒾𝓃𝒹𝓁𝓎. 𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓎 𝓌𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓅𝓎 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶 𝓃𝑒𝓌 𝒸𝓁𝒾𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝒾𝓇 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓅."</p><p>.</p><p>What was the meaning of that scene? Moreover, L was not just anxious but uneasy too. The fact that Light didn't come back at his normal life bothered him: it was almost as if the roles switched between Light and L. And now a new riddle from the other Kira? He had the feeling that the entire situation was getting out of his hand.</p><p>And Ryoko. As if she realised everything, she was avoiding the HQ like the plague. And if she decided to see L, she would wear sunglasses and a mask on her face. He had to talk to her as soon as possible, he had to give her something important.</p><p>L's laptop turned on and its bright light blinded him but he didn’t care. In front of him what he was waiting: the fourth report.</p><p>«<em>Let's see how the story continues</em>»</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>
  <strong>♰ TIME SKIP ♰</strong>
</p><p>Outside it was almost dawn. Shy pink rays started to warm the city. However, heavy dark clouds covered what would otherwise be a wonderful sky. It was past 6:30am and L collected all the notes from 12 different yet specific killings planned by Kira. Each 4 deaths, a tarot card was found near the body: number XIII, Death, number II, the High Priestess and number XV, the Devil. In those six hours, double the amount of people died and L concluded that it was a message for him and him alone.</p><p>.</p><p>"𝐼𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝑔𝒾𝓃𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔, 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝒳𝒱. 𝐻𝑒 𝓇𝓊𝓁𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓁𝒹 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓅𝑒𝑜𝓅𝓁𝑒 𝓉𝓇𝓊𝓈𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂. 𝒪𝓃𝑒 𝒹𝒶𝓎, 𝒳𝒱 𝑒𝓃𝓉𝑒𝓇𝑒𝒹 𝒶 𝒷𝒶𝓀𝑒𝓇𝓎 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒻𝒶𝓋𝑜𝓊𝓇𝒾𝓉𝑒 𝒹𝑒𝓈𝓈𝑒𝓇𝓉: 𝓈𝓉𝓇𝒶𝓌𝒷𝑒𝓇𝓇𝓎 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓇𝓉𝒸𝒶𝓀𝑒.</p><p><br/>
«<span class="u">𝑀𝒶𝓎 𝐼 𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓅 𝓎𝑜𝓊, 𝓈𝒾𝓇?</span>» 𝐼𝐼 𝒶𝓈𝓀𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂 𝓀𝒾𝓃𝒹𝓁𝓎. 𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓎 𝓌𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓅𝓎 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶 𝓃𝑒𝓌 𝒸𝓁𝒾𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝒾𝓇 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓅.</p><p><br/>
«<span class="u">𝒴𝑒𝓈, 𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝒶 𝓈𝓉𝓇𝒶𝓌𝒷𝑒𝓇𝓇𝓎 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓇𝓉𝒸𝒶𝓀𝑒. 𝒩𝑜𝓌</span>» 𝒳𝒱 𝑜𝓇𝒹𝑒𝓇𝑒𝒹 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝐼𝐼 𝒹𝒾𝒹𝓃'𝓉 𝒻𝓁𝒾𝓃𝒸𝒽 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓈𝓂𝒾𝓁𝑒𝒹 𝒶𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂.</p><p><br/>
«<span class="u">𝒴𝑒𝓈 𝓈𝒾𝓇. 𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒾𝓈 𝒶𝓃 𝑒𝓃𝓉𝒾𝓇𝑒 𝓌𝒾𝓃𝒹𝑜𝓌 𝒹𝑒𝒹𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝒶𝓉 𝓈𝓉𝓇𝒶𝓌𝒷𝑒𝓇𝓇𝓎 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓇𝓉𝒸𝒶𝓀𝑒𝓈</span>»<br/>
𝒳𝒱 𝒶𝓃𝒶𝓁𝓎𝓈𝑒𝒹 𝒸𝒶𝓇𝑒𝒻𝓊𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓅 𝓌𝒾𝓃𝒹𝑜𝓌 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒶 𝓅𝒶𝓇𝓉𝒾𝒸𝓊𝓁𝒶𝓇 𝒸𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝒸𝒶𝓊𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝒾𝓇 𝒶𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓃𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃: 𝒾𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝓇𝑜𝓊𝓃𝒹, 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝒶 𝓁𝑜𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝒿𝒶𝓂 𝒾𝓃𝓈𝒾𝒹𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒶 𝒸𝓇𝑜𝓌𝓃 𝑜𝒻 𝓈𝓉𝓇𝒶𝓌𝒷𝑒𝓇𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓈 𝑜𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓉𝑜𝓅.</p><p><br/>
«<span class="u">𝒯𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝑜𝓃𝑒! 𝐻𝑜𝓌 𝓂𝒶𝓃𝓎 𝓈𝓉𝓇𝒶𝓌𝒷𝑒𝓇𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒?</span>» 𝒳𝒱 𝒶𝓈𝓀𝑒𝒹 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝒾𝓇 𝓅𝑜𝓌𝑒𝓇𝒻𝓊𝓁 𝓋𝑜𝒾𝒸𝑒.</p><p><br/>
𝐹𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓀𝒾𝓉𝒸𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝒷𝑒𝒽𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝐼𝐼, 𝒶𝓃𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝒻𝒾𝑔𝓊𝓇𝑒 𝓅𝑜𝓅𝓅𝑒𝒹 𝑜𝓊𝓉: 𝒾𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝒳𝐼𝐼𝐼, 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝒶𝓈𝓉𝓇𝓎 𝒸𝒽𝑒𝒻. «<span class="u">𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝟣𝟤 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓈𝑒 𝒿𝓊𝒾𝒸𝓎 𝒻𝓇𝓊𝒾𝓉𝓈, 𝓈𝒾𝓇</span>»</p><p><br/>
«<span class="u">𝐼𝓉'𝓈 𝒾𝓃𝓉𝑜𝓁𝑒𝓇𝒶𝒷𝓁𝑒! 𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝟣𝟥 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂, 𝒾𝓉'𝓈 𝒶𝓃 𝑜𝓇𝒹𝑒𝓇</span>»</p><p><br/>
«<span class="u">𝐼'𝓂 𝓈𝑜𝓇𝓇𝓎, 𝓈𝒾𝓇. 𝐼𝓉'𝓈 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝓅𝑜𝓈𝓈𝒾𝒷𝓁𝑒. 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝓇𝑒𝒸𝒾𝓅𝑒 𝓈𝒶𝒾𝒹 𝟣𝟤 𝓈𝓉𝓇𝒶𝓌𝒷𝑒𝓇𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓌𝑒 𝒹𝒾𝒹 𝒶𝓈 𝒾𝓉 𝓈𝒶𝒾𝒹</span>» 𝐼𝐼 𝑒𝓍𝓅𝓁𝒶𝒾𝓃𝑒𝒹 𝒸𝒶𝓁𝓂𝓁𝓎.</p><p><br/>
«<span class="u">𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝒸𝒶𝓃𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝒸𝒽𝒶𝓃𝑔𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓇𝓊𝓁𝑒𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝑒𝒶𝓈𝒾𝓁𝓎</span>» 𝒳𝐼𝐼𝐼 𝒶𝒹𝒹𝑒𝒹 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓇𝓉𝓁𝓎 𝒶𝒻𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝐼𝐼.</p><p><br/>
«<span class="u">𝒴𝑒𝓈 𝐼 𝒸𝒶𝓃. 𝐵𝑒𝒸𝒶𝓊𝓈𝑒 𝐼'𝓂 𝒢𝑜𝒹</span>»"</p><p>.</p><p>However, he knew he didn’t have time. He could somehow feel a sort of cold cloth over his shoulders; everything seemed greyer and distant from him and even his sweets were not that sweet anymore. But before that cold cloth would suffocate him, he had to do something.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>
  <span class="u">November 1<sup>st</sup> 2004, 10.32am. Place: Higashi University</span>
</p><p>It was too cold to stay outside and study. And Ryoko hated cold. In addition to this, the main hallways of the University were cold as well so that was a torture for her. She couldn’t bare cold places for long except if she had many layers of warm sweaters.</p><p>And as the cherry on top, she was feeling ill those days. She was always tired and nauseous, she knew she hadn’t to eat those snacks from the vending machine the other day.</p><p>To all that physical pain, we have to add a sort of emotional apprehension. She did her best with those twelve victims and the message to help L with the investigations. Ryoko couldn’t say out loud that the 13 days' rule was fake, everyone would ask her how did she know it, blowing up her cover. And if Matsuda was right when he said there was a Shinigami at the HQ, she was more in danger than ever.</p><p>The task-force could not know it but since Higuchi was dead, the ownership of his Death Note passed to the person that was holding the notebook and Ryoko had the feeling Light was that person. So it made him the new owner of Higuchi's Death Note. If it was true, then Rem was following him and this would explain why Light didn’t leave the HQ once he was free from the handcuffs.</p><p>But again, the task-force couldn’t know this. They were ignoring the Death Note's potentiality and how it could be manipulated if the owner knew the rules. That was what forced Ryoko to help L, she would do anything to save him.</p><p>While Ryoko had all those things in her mind, behind her there was Gynos. Her Shinigami followed the girl everywhere she went and he rarely interfered with her life. He sometimes would say his POV ironically or would inform Ryoko about some rules of the Death Note but nothing more (except for all the help he gave during her arrest). However, in those first days of November the God of Death was feeling more nervous than usual. Technically he was never nervous, the human world was something far from him. He only considered it as a source of years of life.</p><p>But since he directed his glance on Ryoko, everything changed. As time passed, she became the best bet he ever lost. She trapped him by creating an interesting course of events for him and making him care for her.</p><p>Ryoko did theatre…and she acted well.</p><p>Ryoko did sports…and she played well.</p><p>Ryoko was the boss' daughter…and she killed well.</p><p>Gynos bet that if he didn’t climb down on Earth the result would have been the same. Nevertheless, shortly afterwards something terrible would happen and the fact that it would involve his favourite bothered him a lot.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>The black haired girl turned the corner but bumped in someone.</p><p>«<em>Oh I'm terribly sorry. I wasn’t paying attention</em>» she quickly apologised but when she looked at who she bumped into, Ryoko gulped. «<em>Ryuzaki!</em>»</p><p>«<em>Asami…I was looking for you</em>» L was there, slouched as always with a strange and incomprehensible expression on his face. «<em>Are you busy?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Uhm no, lessons are after lunch, we have time</em>»</p><p>«<em>Can we talk in private?</em>»</p><p>Ryoko nodded and guided him on the roof. Despite the cold, it was the only place where you could talk without being bothered by freshmen or other people. Once outside, the girl wrapped herself in her warm sweaters.</p><p>She was going to ask him the reasons of that sudden appearance when she was stricken by a strong smell of strawberry and she realised L was hugging her. Slowly, Ryoko felt the chilly wind disappear as if a bubble of warmth formed around them. After a while, however, L moved away.</p><p>«<em>I wanted to see you again</em>» the sleuth was looking straight into her eyes, a strange shadow clouded them.</p><p>«<em>Are you alright, Ryuzaki?</em>» </p><p>«<em>This morning Kira surprised me with a new riddle</em>» he started ignoring Ryoko's question. «<em>For six consecutive hours they kept killing intensely…however, twelve of those killings caught my attention. I collected a message…for me</em>» L was looking at her sharply as if he wanted to say "You know what I mean".</p><p>Ryoko pretended to be confused and shrugged. «<em>Did you uncover the meaning?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Why, Asami?</em>» he ignored her once again, his black eyes never left her figure.</p><p>«<em>W-What do you mean?</em>»</p><p>«<em>You once said: "I don’t have to pretend anymore. I'm allowed to be myself around you". So…why are you lying?</em>»</p><p>Now Ryoko was shocked. Was she that obvious with her plan? Well, maybe yes…she admitted it. It was a bit hasty and perhaps not well organised, but she had to do it. It was necessary.</p><p>«<em>But Ryuzaki</em>…» Ryoko smiled faintly at him. «<em>Now you're lying too</em>…»</p><p>It was L's turn to be shocked and he stood in silence to let her talk. «<em>You keep saying that I'm Kira but I noticed you never did anything to prove it. With Light and Misa you seem quite eager to convict them…but with me you decided to love me. If it was true, obviously</em>»</p><p>He looked down at the ground, hands in the pockets of his jeans. «<em>You're right, Asami. But remember…every kiss I gave, every touch I did and every word I said…they were all true</em>»</p><p>When it came to romantic things, Ryoko would be always a bit doltish and flushed. She wasn’t good with those things. But that was the cutest thing L could say, she was in a state of pure bliss.</p><p>On the other hand, L was smiling at her clearly touched by her reaction. However, he had to interrupt Ryoko's cute state (much to his dismay).</p><p>«<em>Asami, I want to give you something</em>»</p><p> Ryoko snapped back into the real world and looked at him. She noticed a rather serious expression on his face. «<em>Yes?</em>»</p><p>He rummaged in the pockets of his jeans and took a letter. «<em>This is for you. Open it at the right moment</em>»</p><p>«<em>And when is the right moment?</em>» she asked observing the letter in her hand.</p><p>«<em>You'll understand it</em>»</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>·················•·················•</p><p><strong>ʟᴀᴄʀɪᴍᴏꜱᴀ </strong>(mournful)</p><p><br/>
<strong>ᴅɪᴇꜱ ɪʟʟᴀ </strong>(that day)</p><p>
  <span class="u">November 5<sup>th</sup> 2004, time unknown. Place: Japanese Task Force building, Tokyo</span>
</p><p>L announced that he was going to test the 13-day rule. Convicts scheduled for execution will be used to test the Death Note and the task-force will be able to see if they would live beyond a fortnight. Through his computer, he contacted Watari who was in a separate location.</p><p>«<em>What does this accomplish?</em>» Aizawa asked in shock.</p><p>«<em>Obviously to test whether this murder notebook works</em>» However, the other detectives were against it, but he insisted on doing it.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p><strong>Qᴜᴀ ʀᴇꜱᴜʀɢᴇᴛ ᴇx ꜰᴀᴠɪʟʟᴀ </strong>(when from the ashes shall rise)</p><p><br/>
<strong>ᴊᴜᴅɪᴄᴀɴᴅᴜꜱ ʜᴏᴍᴏ ʀᴇᴜꜱ </strong>(the guilty man to be judged)</p><p>«<em>Girl, listen to me</em>» Gynos couldn’t take it anymore, nervousness was devouring him. In that moment he was with Ryoko at the University. «<em>You have to go</em>»</p><p>Ryoko, focused on the lesson, turned slightly the head towards him. It was the signal to him to keep talking. «<em>That guy, L…you need to reach him. Now</em>» </p><p>Ryoko never heard Gynos so serious before. She was used at his cheeky personality (all spiced up with a bad sense of humour) but being serious all of sudden? It was strange…strange and concerning.</p><p>«<em>His numbers…the lifespan</em>» that was all she needed to hear to rush outside the classroom and ran towards the HQ. She didn’t mind how far it was from the campus, she would run. Run as fast as her legs could take her. Her dark hair flew behind her as she left the University behind.</p><p>«<em>No, <strong>no</strong>!</em>» she yelled in the air. «<em>Rem! Stop it!</em>»</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p><strong>ʟᴀᴄʀɪᴍᴏꜱᴀ, ᴅɪᴇꜱ ɪʟʟᴀ </strong>(Mournful, that day)</p><p><br/>
<strong>Qᴜᴀ ʀᴇꜱᴜʀɢᴇᴛ ᴇx ꜰᴀᴠɪʟʟᴀ </strong>(when from the ashes shall rise)</p><p><br/>
<strong>ᴊᴜᴅɪᴄᴀɴᴅᴜꜱ ʜᴏᴍᴏ ʀᴇᴜꜱ </strong>(the guilty man to be judged)</p><p>At the HQ, Rem the Shinigami realized that if L kept going with his plan then the 13-day rule would be revealed as a fake and Misa would again be at the centre of the investigation.</p><p>"If I want to write down the name of people whose deaths would lengthen Misa's remaining lifespan…I have until the first person dies…that's 40 seconds to write as many names as I can" she thought while going through the wall into another room.</p><p>Moments later, while L was still talking to Watari through their computers, they all heard the sound of someone collapsing on the other side of the screen.</p><p>«<em>What's wrong Watari?</em>»</p><p>Silence.</p><p>Nobody replied. «<em>Watari?</em>» L asked again but he could not hear anything.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>Ryoko didn’t know how she made it but she made it. She was at L's HQ, she couldn’t feel her legs anymore. The breath was heavy, the face was sweaty and Ryoko had the feeling she was going to faint. The nausea she had those days wasn’t helping her in that moment. She kept running up the stairs, the elevator was too slow. </p><p>Step after step, flight after flight, she was going to reach the monitoring room. It was so close, few more steps.  </p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>
  <strong>ALL DATA DELETED.</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>«<em>I told Watari that if something ever happened to him, he should erase all the data he could. And to set his system up to erase automatically after a certain amount of time</em>»</p><p>«<em>If something happened to him? You mean…like death?</em>»</p><p>Yes, Watari was dead. The task-force noticed that Rem was missing, and L quickly realized that the Shinigami must have killed his mentor.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p><strong>ʜᴜɪᴄ ᴇʀɢᴏ ᴘᴀʀᴄᴇ ᴅᴇᴜꜱ </strong>(Lord, have mercy on him)</p><p><br/>
<strong>ᴘɪᴇ <strike>ᴊᴇꜱᴜ</strike> ᴋɪʀᴀ, <strike>ᴊᴇꜱᴜ</strike> ᴋɪʀᴀ ᴅᴏᴍɪɴᴇ </strong>(Gentle <strike>Lord</strike> Kira)</p><p>Ryoko thrusted the door open, she was going to yell at everybody but her voice died in the throat. In front of her, as if time slowed down, she saw L collapsing on the ground. With a swift movement, Light held a dying Ryuzaki in his arms.</p><p>Then Ryoko felt the floor fell down under her feet. Was the building crumbling? No, the building was standing out against the dark sky and its solid foundations kept it anchored at the ground.</p><p>What the girl felt was her knees that caved in. She almost fell on the ground as if the energies left abruptly her body. Ryoko quickly stood upright and rushed towards Light and L. With an unknown force she hurled Light away from L. She started to cry and sob loudly, her breath was laboured.</p><p>«<em>No no, L! Please, no…don't…</em>» she was holding his limp body in her arms. His black eyes were open but almost lifeless, they were looking at Ryoko but at the same time they were not there anymore.</p><p>«<em>Ry</em>…<em>o</em>…<em>ko</em>» he whispered really faintly and then he started to close his eyes.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p><strong>ᴅᴏɴᴀ ᴇɪꜱ ʀᴇQᴜɪᴇᴍ </strong>(Grand them eternal rest)</p><p>Panicked, the investigation team took L to the hospital. Actually only Soichiro and Ryoko went there, the rest of the task-force stayed at the HQ. Despite Soichiro's efforts to appear calm and collected, trying to reassure Ryoko that Ryuzaki would make it, the raven haired girl wasn’t paying attention to him. Her ears refused to listen, her body refused to react, her mind refused to accept what happened. The only thing she could do was to gaze on the streets in front of her; the eyes run out of tears despite her strong desire to mourn Ryuzaki. She just couldn’t.</p><p>Once at the hospital, she had the confirmation that L was pronounced dead, a death caused by a heart attack. Soichiro asked Ryoko if she would be alright if he left to inform the task-force.</p><p>The black haired girl nodded. From the moment she flung Light on the ground she didn’t say a word, she didn’t call anyone. Absolutely nothing.</p><p>Soichiro left the hospital, a sad and concerned expression on his face as he got in the car. The nurses gave Ryoko the permission to stay with the body for a while and she thanked her with a slight yet empty smile.</p><p>And there she was: a destroyed girl not even in her twenties next to an hospital bed occupied by her dead lover. Gynos, who stood in silence since the beginning, didn’t know what to do. He was afraid to say something wrong, upsetting Ryoko even more. So he decided to remain quiet. The Shinigami knew he couldn’t help her: once a person died, they could never come back to life. Especially if this person was killed with the Death Note.</p><p>Oh, how much he wanted to change the rules and to create something that could revive people. So Ryoko wouldn’t be sad anymore…but it was not possible. For once in his long life, Gynos regretted being a God of Death.</p><p>From where he was in that moment, he could see that Ryoko was caressing L's hand tenderly.</p><p>«<em>What happens…after…?</em>» she whispered on the verge of crying again, her voice trembled.</p><p>«<em>After death?</em>» Gynos asked her and she nodded in silence. «<em>All humans, regardless of their actions during life, simply cease to exist upon dying. None excluded. The place they go is called MU, or Nothingness</em>»</p><p>«<em>So there's nothing after death</em>…»</p><p>«<em>No</em>…» he raised a hand to touch her, in an attempt to comfort her but he lowered it almost immediately. He realised he couldn’t help her.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p><strong>ᴅᴏɴᴀ ᴇɪꜱ ʀᴇQᴜɪᴇᴍ </strong>(Grand them eternal rest)</p><p>It was late afternoon, the sky was painted in orange. In the background, if you listened carefully, you could hear a plainchant coming from the nearby church. The task-force stood in a row in the graveyard in front of a golden cross placed on the ground. They were the only people at the funeral but none of them were crying, they just looked sad. Soichiro was the only one speaking at first.</p><p>«<em>Ryuzaki…we held your funeral without informing anyone. We're going to pretend you're alive and move the world's police as if nothing has changed…We'll catch Kira. I promise you</em>…» despite the kind words, this felt so static. Moreover, none of them were mourning L, meaning they didn't see L as anything more than a superior co-worker. Why should you mourn someone you didn’t know?</p><p>«<em>That's right</em>…» Light interrupted his father's speech. «<em>Let's avenge Ryuzaki. Solving the case will be our parting gift. For Watari and the other victim's sake…and for everyone…I will get Kira executed!</em>» the young Yagami curled his hands into fists, his eyes were hidden behind his hair. Was he hiding his grief? Or was he hiding a well-played acting?</p><p>The task force began to leave, still, none of them showed true emotions, they were almost disconnected. Matsuda turned around, noticing Light was not following them. When he pointed it out Soichiro told him to let him stay. This was because the task force believed that Light was the only one truly mourning.</p><p>The moment the task-force left, Ryuk appeared beside Light. It meant that Light was no longer pretending to be innocent and he was speaking as Kira. He had nothing to hide anymore, not in that moment. So he started to laugh. He laughed while standing above L’s grave. He bent over, uncontrollably, screaming and laughing in evil joy. Taunting L.</p><p>«<em>Everyone in my way is gone. Everyone else believes me…it's only a matter of time before I control the police! WHAT DO YOU THINK, L?! THIS IS MY PERFECT VICTORY!! </em></p><p><strong><em>I WIN!</em></strong>»</p><p>This mad confession was followed by silence that should have been filled with words, a reply, L’s reply. A reply that will never come. Once Kira realised that L was gone and nobody would stop him he calmed down and his expression darkens.</p><p>«<em>Ah Yagami, you're so disrespectful</em>…» a feminine voice came from behind him. He though he was alone so when he heard that voice he panicked slightly. But when he recognised the owner of that voice, his expression became even more darker.</p><p>«<em>Asami</em>…»  not far from him, Ryoko stood there in her wonderful dress: the upper part was white and it reminded a rococo shirt with all the laces and puffballs in the chest and sleeves; the skirt was black, made with silk and it had many layers of dark underskirt. The two pieces were separated with a large belt that wrapped without squeezing the belly. This dress was completed with a pair of white heels.</p><p>Light stood up and dusted his dark suit. «<em>Are you going to reveal what you saw just now?</em>»</p><p>«<em>I don’t really care about you, Yagami. And about me, I obtained what I wanted</em>» Ryoko's face was neutral, she wasn’t neither happy nor sad. Or at least, her face was like that.</p><p>«<em>Asami</em>…» Light walked closer to her. «<em>You and me have the same power. We can create a better world, together! Join me…and become the Goddess of the new world</em>»</p><p>«<em>Sorry, Yagami. But this is not my war anymore. As I said, I obtained what I wanted: all my data and dossiers about me are cancelled. It's a pity someone had to die</em>…» </p><p>Light smirked evilly. «<em>I knew you were acting. It was impossible neither for you nor for Ryuzaki to fall in love for each other that easily. I almost believed you</em>»</p><p>«<em>What should I say? I did theatre, I'm a good actress</em>»</p><p>«<em>Think about my offer</em>» and with that Light left the graveyard. Ryoko stood in front of L's golden cross for a while, just to be sure Light was really gone. Once she was sure she was alone, she collapsed in her knees in front of the grave, an uncontrolled cry filled the air, her sobs were the only audible sound. Light's exact opposite reaction.</p><p>When she ran out of tears, silence reigned supreme again. «<em>I didn’t want any of this…I tried to help you with those messages. To make you realise the truth but…it seems you never uncovered the riddle. But I promise this to you, L…I'm going to avenge you. Nobody have to dare to hinder me…to hinder Kira</em>»</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p><strong>ᴀᴍᴇɴ </strong>(so be it)</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>A/N: oh gosh, 400+ hits //w// <br/>Thank you so much, for real (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0019"><h2>19. Frontier</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>|| (A/N: you could find some angst moments ahead) ||</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was a rainy day, a typical cold and rainy day of November. However, the cold of each drop was nothing compared to the coldness inside Ryoko's heart. Few days ago L died and she had to leave Japan as instructed by the letter he gave her before those events.</p><p> </p><p>"𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘙𝘺𝘰𝘬𝘰,</p><p>𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘯𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘐𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳, 𝘙𝘺𝘰𝘬𝘰. 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦, 𝘥𝘰 𝘢𝘴 𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘺: 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴. 𝘎𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘔𝘳. 𝘙𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘙𝘶𝘷𝘪𝘦.</p><p>𝘐𝘧 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦, 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘮. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘢 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴, 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰𝘰.</p><p>𝘋𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦𝘵𝘺. 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘵 𝘓𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘠𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘪 𝘢𝘴 𝘒𝘪𝘳𝘢. 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦.</p><p>
  
</p><p>𝘓 𝘓𝘢𝘸𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘵"</p><p> </p><p>When she read it for the first time she didn’t understand what "Lawliet" meant. Was it a sort of code? Or a riddle? Then she realised that it must have been Ryuzaki's real name. He told her his true name…</p><p>His true name.</p><p>That was an extreme act of trust from him and this made Ryoko cry again.</p><p>And there she was. At the airport of Narita in order to fly towards Europe. Southampton would be her next destination.</p><p> </p><p>"𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗻𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗥𝟱𝟲𝟳𝗝 𝗱𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘁𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗼𝗳𝗳 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻 𝟮𝟬 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗲𝘀. 𝗣𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲, 𝗯𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲."</p><p> </p><p>A female metallic voice spoke through the speakers of the airport, interrupting Ryoko's thoughts. She didn’t have the chance to say goodbye to her family, at Eriko or at Tobe-san. Well, she couldn’t, L told her not to. However, she had to act fast: since she would disappear from the scenes for a while, she had to convince her family and friends not to search for her. If her face and name appeared on TV she was done.</p><p>Well, she had to go to the gates. Her flight for Southampton would last almost 13 hours and all she wanted was to rest on the airplane.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>
  <strong>♰ THE NEXT DAY, SOUTHAMPTON ♰</strong>
</p><p>As planned, after all those hours inside that plane, Ryoko arrived at the airport of Southampton. Once inside the building she was amazed by her surroundings: English writings, strange keepsakes shown in the shop windows and so many lights. It was her first time in Europe and she already loved it.</p><p>«<em>Is this how humans fly? That's awful</em>» Ryoko almost forgot about Gynos. «<em>If I was human, I would throw up</em>»</p><p>Ryoko understood what he felt, she vomited more than twice on the plane. It was strange since it was not the first she flew. Anyway, she shrugged and left the airport. That day the sky was partly cloudy, a shy sun popped out from the white clouds but the air was cold anyway.</p><p>"At least it's not that different from Japan…" she though breathing the chilly British air. "And now…let's go to Manchester".</p><p>As if 13 hours of flight were not enough, from the airport to Manchester there were from 4 to 6 more hours of bus and train. During the "trip", she took the opportunity to take a closer look at the address L gave her: "Orphanage "Wammy's House", Manchester".</p><p>Why an orphanage? Was L an orphan? Well, it would explain so many things, first of all the relationship between him and Watari. Maybe that old man was like a father to Ryuzaki…yes, it could be.</p><p>So around five hours later the raven haired girl arrived at the orphanage. It had a large paving entrance with a very big gate; on the side of the gate, the building that reminded the old Victorian manors Ryoko saw on TV; it was surrounded by grass and many trees but they had no more leaves because autumn arrived there too.</p><p>Ryoko crossed the immense gate and walked towards the orphanage. She was so amazed by the beauty of that huge manor house that she didn’t notice an old man wearing a black suit, much like Watari, as if he was waiting for her arrival.</p><p>«<em>Good afternoon Miss and welcome to the Wammy's House, orphanage for gifted children. How can I help you?</em>» the old man, with a large nose and round glasses, greeted her with his strong British accent.</p><p>«<em>Are you Mr. Roger Ruvie?</em>»</p><p>The old man adjusted the glasses over his nose and observed her carefully. «<em>Yes</em>»</p><p>«<em>I have a message for you</em>» he looked at the girl in front of him: heavy jacket, black boots and a mask over her mouth. He sighed and let her in.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>Ryoko and Roger left his office together: they talked about the letter and the pen drive L gave her for him. However, Roger specified that he had to wait a specific amount of time before making the next move.</p><p>«<em>Since you and L seem to be quite close, I think he would agree with me if I let you stay here at the orphanage</em>»</p><p>«<em>Thank you Ruvie-san, you're so kind</em>…»</p><p>Roger observed that girl, who appeared so suddenly at the gates of the orphanage: slightly messy yet silky black hair, light skin and chocolate brown eyes. The eyes caught his attention in particular: despite the wonderful colour, they seemed to have seen so many awful things. Things that a girl of her age should never see. «<em>Miss, what's your alias?</em>»</p><p>«<em>It's …Asami Aikawa</em>»</p><p>«<em>Very well Miss Asami, it so happens that we need a new teacher for our music class. Do you think you can do it?</em>» he crossed the arms behind his back, his dark brown eyes were scanning Ryoko.</p><p>«<em>Teaching music…to children? I…uhm…I don’t feel comfortable with too many people around me…I don’t know if I'm suited for this task</em>»</p><p>«<em>If you help the children, the children will help you. But for now, you need rest</em>»</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>·················•·················•</p><p>«<em>Dad, you have to listen to me</em>»</p><p>«<em>Ryoko, where the hell are you?! We're worried sick!</em>» Ryoko had to distance the receiver from her ear since Fusao, her father, was yelling at the phone. She was in the middle of Manchester, in a phone booth.</p><p>«<em>Dad, could you shut up and listen what I have to say?</em>» Ryoko demanded calmly yet firmly. Not hearing anything coming from the other side of the call she continued. «<em>Few days ago something terrible happened and I had to leave Japan…but I have to ask you a favour</em>…» her voice cracked many times as if she was holding tears.</p><p>«<em>What do you mean "you left Japan"? Ryoko, what's happening?</em>» Fusao was visibly worried, Ryoko knew him too well.</p><p>«<em>I can't tell you now, dad. But I'm fine, really…however, I need you to do something for me, please</em>»</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>«<em>Do not look for me. If people ask you about me just say I'm abroad for an University project. Burn every photograph of me or at least hide them. Please, do as I say dad</em>»</p><p>Fusao didn’t know how to react. When he talked to Ryoko it was 10pm and he was going to go to bed but that sudden call ruined his sleep. He was at home with Hoso, his wife, and Kazuo, Ryoko's older brother. He was studying to become a coroner at the University and that evening he was visiting his parents for the weekend. So when Ryoko called she left her entire family dumbfounded.</p><p>«<em>Dad, do you believe her?</em>» Kazuo asked with the eyebrow placed on the kitchen counter.</p><p>«<em>I don’t know what to believe, Kazuo…she disappeared so suddenly, without warning anyone. Something happened for sure</em>» Fusao massaged the bridge of his nose and then adjusted the dark glasses.</p><p>«<em>Do you think she…got implicated with Kira?</em>» Hoso, who was the most emotional involved, asked terrorized. Fusao sat next to her on the sofa and hugged her.</p><p>«<em>Don’t say that, honey. Of course not</em>»</p><p>«<em>So we have to pretend she doesn’t exist</em>…» Kazuo interrupted Hoso's cry with that annoyed opinion. He was really bothered not because his sister disappeared but because he didn’t notice anything. For him, Ryoko was a simple and talented college student much like him. But this event, this sudden disappearance…changed everything in Kazuo's mind.</p><p>«<em>No, Kazuo. For now we'll do as she said…in the meantime I'll start looking around to find answers</em>»</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>
  <strong>♰ TIME SKIP ♰</strong>
</p><p>«<em>Miss Asami, please meet little H, one of our most talented students in maths and geometry classes. She will be your guide through the orphanage and she will show you your room</em>»</p><p>The same afternoon after Ryoko's call at home, Roger introduced her to H, a cute girl around 10 with a pair of dark jeans, grey jumper and black jacket; her long brown hair were tied in a ponytail and her green eyes were examining her closely.</p><p>«<em>Hello…H</em>» Ryoko waved at her but the little kid didn’t greet her back. Ryoko immediately noticed the way Roger introduced H to her -with a letter- and it reminded her of L, of course. She thought about the system the orphanage used to "call" its kids: it seemed each child within the Wammy's House system assigned a single letter. A calling code.  Something by which they could identify each other, if no other code-name was available.  But why? And most importantly…how did it work if the child was adopted?</p><p> </p><p>H made a soft yet annoyed sigh and took Ryoko's hand to guide inside the orphanage. At each room they visited, H would only mutter few words just to let Ryoko know where they were. For the rest of the walk she stood in silence to remark how listless she was doing it. </p><p>«<em>This place is so huge…I think I'll get lost often</em>» Ryoko chuckled at her statement but H didn’t react. At that point she had the feeling H hated her. She showed no enthusiasm, she didn't flinch if they met other children, she didn't react if someone teased her. Ryoko really couldn’t understand her.  </p><p>The last thing H showed her was her room. It was simple like a motel room: beige wall-to-wall carpeting, a wooden table with a chair, a wardrobe and a single bed. The most beautiful thing in that bedroom were the curtains, in a pleasant pastel pink shade. They turned pink the entire room due to the sunbeams that hit them.</p><p>«<em>I love it, it's beautiful</em>~» Ryoko smiled happily, for once after long time.</p><p>«<em>I chose the curtains</em>…» she heard someone say. Ryoko knew they were alone in that hallway so who was talking? When she looked down she noticed the little girl was playing nervously with her clothes: so it must be her.</p><p>«<em>Really? Good work, H</em>»</p><p>Ryoko couldn’t imagine how that simple phrase, that simple compliment affected little H. Truth was that at Wammy's House things such as compliments were not on the agenda. If you were there you had to be perfect: doing the right thing was the children's duty, it was expected from them. Thus a simple thing like that appreciation was something so unknown for them.</p><p>Shortly after that, H informed everyone about Ryoko and soon all children wanted to meet their new teacher. Around a week later, Ryoko started her new life as music teacher.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>Actually the Wammy's House was not so bad after all. The first days were terrible for Ryoko, a girl not very accustomed with the language, customs and traditions of that new country. Moreover, she often would start crying at night no stop.</p><p>But very slowly, day after day, she started to move on. It took her almost an entire month to start feeling better and it was only after that time that Ryoko decided to see what was inside the pen drive L gave her before his passing. She had the feeling that it contained something important but she didn’t have the courage to open it until that moment. She was afraid to hear Lawliet's voice again but she couldn’t avoid it for the rest of her life so she mustered the courage and one day she went in the library (fitted with computers of course).</p><p>She chose the farthest computer from the entrance and took her headphones, plugging them in alongside the pen drive.</p><p>«<em>I'll wait outside</em>…» Gynos, expecting something emotional, decided to stay away in the meantime. In that moment, a white image with a giant black "L" appeared on the screen.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>"𝙷𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚘. 𝚄𝚑𝚖…𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝙸 𝚍𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚖𝚢 𝚟𝚘𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚖𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚊𝚐𝚎.</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Ryoko could feel her heart hurting but she endured it. Oh, how much she missed his voice, she almost smiled at that sound.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>𝚁𝚢𝚘𝚔𝚘-𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗, 𝙸'𝚟𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚖𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚊𝚐𝚎 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞, 𝙸 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚜…𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚋𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚢 𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐.</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>The voice said with a hint of cute embarrassment and Ryoko chuckled quietly: the image she had of him in her head, all shyly slouched on the chair, wasn’t helping her to stop.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>𝙽𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗, 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚏𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐. 𝙸'𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚛𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚎𝚡𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚖𝚢𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏 𝚊𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚊𝚜 𝙸 𝚌𝚊𝚗. </strong>
  <br/>
  <strong>𝚆𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚎, 𝚊𝚜 "𝚈𝚘𝚔𝚘𝚑𝚊𝚖𝚊 𝙺𝚒𝚛𝚊" 𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛, 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚜𝚗’𝚝 𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚍. 𝙰𝚝 𝚊𝚕𝚕.</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>At those words Ryoko was surprised but not too much. She, somehow, knew she didn’t make a good impression to him. And at the beginning that feeling was mutual.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>𝙰𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢, 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚊𝚗 𝚘𝚋𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚌𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚖𝚎 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝙺𝚒𝚛𝚊. 𝙷𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛, 𝚆𝚊𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚒 𝚝𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝚖𝚎 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚓𝚞𝚖𝚙 𝚝𝚘 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚕𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚜𝚘 𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚒𝚕𝚢. 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚊𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚑𝚒𝚖 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝙸 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝙸 𝚔𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚎𝚗𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚑𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚊𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚍𝚒𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚌𝚛𝚒𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚜. </strong>
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  <strong>𝙱𝚞𝚝…𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚊𝚝 𝚊𝚕𝚕. 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚑𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝚊𝚜 𝚠𝚎𝚕𝚕.</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Ryoko listened carefully and wondered what he was referring to. Lawliet didn’t know something? It was almost impossible.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>𝙼𝚢 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝. 𝙼𝚢 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊 𝚖𝚢𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚎: 𝙸'𝚖 𝚊 𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚊 𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚌𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚔𝚎𝚙𝚝 𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎. 𝚂𝚘 𝙸 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝. 𝙷𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛…𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚊𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚗 𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚛𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚌𝚕𝚎: 𝚒𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚍, 𝚒𝚝 𝚑𝚞𝚛𝚝 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚜. 𝙸𝚝 𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚍𝚘 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚕𝚢…𝚒𝚝 𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚖𝚎 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕. 𝙷𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜…𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚖𝚢 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎. </strong>
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  <strong>𝚂𝚘 𝚁𝚢𝚘𝚔𝚘, 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚢𝚘𝚞. 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚖𝚎 𝙸'𝚖 𝚑𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝚝𝚘𝚘. 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚢𝚘𝚞. 𝙸 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚏𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚊 𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚖 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚎, 𝚊𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎. 𝙸 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚕𝚕 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚊𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝙼𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚘 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙽𝚎𝚊𝚛, 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚐𝚒𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚍, 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚕 𝚔𝚒𝚍𝚜.</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Then a pause.</p><p>A <em>long</em> pause.</p><p>At first Ryoko didn't hear anything, just silence. After one whole minute, she could hear some noises. But they were distant, as if L moved away from the microphone.</p><p>Were they…sniffles and cries? Ryoko couldn’t tell, those sounds were too far from the microphone.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>𝙸 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞."</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>And the message ended there, the icon of the program used to play that message appeared in the screen. At those words Ryoko couldn’t stop her cry: hot, salty tears made her eyes a little puffy and red. She could remember perfectly his attempts to show affections and how shy he would become when it was Ryoko the one showing affection. They would sometimes fall asleep together, crouched on the sofa or tease an asleep Light with food towers.</p><p>When she finished her tears, she was staring blindly at the computer deep in thought. The old battle between her two sides, the emotional vs the rational part, was over long time ago. Maybe they connected together the moment Ryoko started to have feelings for Lawliet. So she wasn’t afraid to show her emotions anymore; sure, he would act as a strong girl in certain circumstances but she would remember, as L said in the message, that she had feelings. And disavowing them wouldn’t make them disappear.</p><p>After that moment of sadness, she smiled and played again the message. Just to hear that terrible joke at the beginning.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0020"><h2>20. Time</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>|| A/N: explicit mentions of death, violence and abuse ||</p><p>EDIT: chapter updated.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>At the Japanese HQ, Soichiro informed the team that he could not tell the director of the NPA about L's death because he feared that he would completely stop the Kira Investigation. The team decided that in order to avert suspicion of L's whereabouts, they had to pretend L was still alive.</p><p>«<em>Yeah, even Ryuzaki said it…that you'd be capable of succeeding L</em>» Matsuda pointed out, continuing Aizawa's previous statement.</p><p>"So easy…There's no challenge without Ryuzaki here" Light thought by himself.</p><p>They also agreed that Soichiro would be the one to hide the Death Note from that moment. It was clear to everyone that Kira existed, and he was using another notebook. What they didn’t know, or just weren’t able to see, was that Kira was in front of them pretending to suffer from L's death.</p><p>The countdown clock that the orphanage caretaker had been keeping track of had finally reached zero. All of the data about L had been erased, and a message appeared on the phone, "L is dead."</p><p>«<em>It's time</em>…» Roger Ruvie, the orphanage caretaker, muttered to himself with a concerned tone. He stood up from his armchair and walked in the corridor towards one of the many playrooms. One of the teachers greeted Roger but he didn’t answer back. Instead, he grabbed a boy's arm.</p><p>«<em>Mello…and Near, come to my room. You too, Miss Asami</em>»</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>Roger's office was almost completely empty except for a library between two windows behind his desk. No tables, no plants and no decorations. That was pretty sad, Ryoko thought. With her, in the office there were two children: one with chin-length golden-blond hair and blue eyes, whose bangs hanged down just over his eyebrows, the other sitting on the ground doing a puzzle, grey eyes and white shaggy hair and wearing a white, long-sleeved pyjama.</p><p>Ryoko stood next to the door while Roger sat at his desk; he conjoined his hands in front of his face looking at the two kids with worry.</p><p>«<em>So Roger? Why did you want to see us?</em>» the blonde kid asked him, he seemed fed up.</p><p>«<em>I received a message…L is dead</em>»</p><p>Hearing that was still painful for Ryoko. She thought Roger didn’t know how and who did it but she knew it very well. Too well indeed. She couldn’t imagine the pain in those two kids, so young yet so skilful.</p><p>«<em>What? How</em>…» the blonde kid asked him again and Roger mumbled something in a low voice. «<strong><em>How</em></strong>…<em>are you saying he was killed by Kira?</em>»</p><p>Once again Roger didn’t respond at first but then he simply said «<em>That could be</em>»</p><p>The blonde kid was shocked and angered by the news. However, the white one was completing his puzzle like nothing happened.</p><p>«<em>Are you saying he swore to send him to the gallows but Kira killed him instead?!</em>» he spoke with fury in his voice, grasping Roger's shoulders in the process.</p><p>«<em>Indeed</em>» finally Ryoko spoke and the blonde kid let Roger go and turned towards her.  «<em>Kira killed him</em>» she repeated and walked close to Roger, leaning against the library. She observed carefully both of them: the blonde one, Mello, seemed to be more emotionally involved in all this while the other one, Near, acted as if it was a normal day at the Wammy's House.</p><p>Ryoko saw Mello curling his hands into fists, he was clearly boiling from rage. «<em>Your predecessor said you two are quite skilful and I want to believe him. As I said previously to Roger, he left a message for you two. If you need something, I'll be in the music classroom</em>» she bowed at everyone and before leaving the office she glared at Mello (the only one who was actually looking at her) with a dark stare. The blonde boy backed off a bit but maintained a stoic expression; the white kid continued his puzzle.</p><p>She took few steps in the hallways and only there she sighed heavily. She just wanted to throw up, too much emotions in such a short time, or the jetlag was still hitting her harder (for too much time already) than expected.</p><p>«<em>So, you must the new music teacher H always talks about</em>…» someone spoke from behind her. Ryoko turned and saw a girl around 15 with half blonde and half black hair; her big yet sharp eyes were looking directly at her soul.</p><p>«<em>Am I already famous?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Yes</em>» she played with the hems of her oversized clothes, the voice seemed so monotone it was almost electronic. «<em>Usually music teachers are not that renowned here</em>» </p><p>Ryoko studied her: basic clothes too large for her slim body and a sort of computer placed under her left arm; empty stare yet delicate and cute features. Her evident British accent made her figure even more mysterious.</p><p>«<em>I never saw you at lesson…you don’t like music?</em>»</p><p>«<em>I prefer doing information technology rather than music. My name is Pan</em>»</p><p>Ryoko nodded with the head and the two girls stared at each other for few minutes before Pan broke it with a question. «<em>Something bad happened to L, right?</em>»</p><p>Ryoko kept her stoic stare at her. Pan smiled instead. «<em>You know much more than you say, do you?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Seems I'm not the only one though</em>» Ryoko turned and walked away, she had a very important thing to do, leaving Pan in the middle of the hallway. When Ryoko was far enough from her, Pan smirked. «<em>Indeed</em>…» she whispered quietly.</p><p> </p><p>·················•·················•</p><p>In Japan it was evening. More specifically, it was 7pm. Tobe Shihei just entered his house like every evening.</p><p>«<em>I'm home</em>…» but nobody greeted him back. He lived alone after all. He was an only child and his parents divorced many years ago so he had nobody waiting him at home.</p><p>Tobe put down his bag, removed the jacket and loosened the tie. Another busy day at the university ended and he was more stressed than ever. One of his freshmen, Ryoko Koike, stopped attending the lessons and he couldn’t understand the reason: she was so talented and rather smart, one of the smartest actually, so that sudden disappearance made him suspicious. Her father, Fusao, came at the Higashi University to take her things but he never specified where his daughter was.</p><p>The blonde boy threw together a meal and went to bed. What people didn’t know was that Ryoko's disappearance reawakened some bad memories in him.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>The next day, Tobe woke up with the sun; he made breakfast, took a shower and dressed with his usual clothes. He was going to put his shoes when his phone rang.</p><p>«<em>Hello?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Is there Mr. Tobe Shihei from Higashi University?</em>» a rather cheerful feminine voice spoke from the other side of the phone.</p><p>«<em>Yes, are you from Science department? I tried to contact you many times yesterday</em>»</p><p>« 𝚆𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚐, 𝚒𝚝'𝚜 𝙺𝚒𝚛𝚊» the voice suddenly changed in one artificially modified.</p><p>Of course, someone as Tobe didn’t believe it and he was going to end the call there. « 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚡𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝙾𝚐𝚊𝚠𝚊 𝚁𝚒𝚎𝚔𝚘, 𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝? 𝙶𝚘𝚘𝚍, 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚐𝚘 𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚕𝚎𝚏𝚝»</p><p>The fact that this person knew about Tobe's neighbour didn’t surprise him. At the University he talked a lot about his neighbourhood and how bizarre Ogawa-san was.</p><p>However, he did as request and walked outside his house. He looked at his left and saw Ogawa-san feeding some cats.</p><p>«𝙶𝚘𝚘𝚍, 𝙼𝚛. 𝚃𝚘𝚋𝚎. 𝙽𝚘𝚠 𝚘𝚋𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚎. 𝙷𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚏𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚛 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚜  𝚋𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚠𝚘𝚘𝚍𝚎𝚗 𝚋𝚘𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚜<em>?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Yes</em>» he replied emotionless. He still didn’t trust that person but he was curious to know what was coming next.</p><p>«𝙴𝚡𝚌𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚝. 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚍𝚒𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙼𝚒𝚜𝚜 𝙾𝚐𝚊𝚠𝚊 𝚔𝚒𝚍𝚗𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚍 𝚊 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚐 𝚋𝚘𝚢 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚑𝚎 𝚒𝚜𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚎? 𝚂𝚑𝚎 𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚜 𝚑𝚒𝚖 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚗𝚘𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚙𝚑𝚢 𝚊𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚋»</p><p>Tobe opened his eyes wide for the surprise: he knew Ogawa-san, she was a king lady who feed all the stray cats of the quartier. It was impossible, at least from Tobe's point of view, that such a nice woman could be that cruel.</p><p>«𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚍𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚟𝚎 𝚖𝚎, 𝚍𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞? 𝚆𝚎𝚕𝚕, 𝚕𝚎𝚝 𝚖𝚎 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸'𝚖 𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝. 𝙽𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚘𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚍𝚒𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊 𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚎» "Kira" spoke again at Tobe's ear.</p><p>Then, Miss Ogawa waved at Tobe and walked closer to the front door of her house. The blonde boy saw her opening the door but in that exact moment a dog appeared in the street: it was barking furiously, people starting to yell scared by it. Then the dog ran towards Miss Ogawa.</p><p>Hopefully Tobe couldn’t see it but according to the sound he was hearing –screams, cries, snarls, bones being broken and skin being teared- Miss Ogawa was suffering of a terrible death. Then, like it appeared, the dog ran away. Tobe was going to throw up there, in the middle of the road, when he saw a half-naked child leaving the house and asking for help.</p><p>In that moment, Tobe ran inside his house and rushed towards the bathroom. He abandoned the phone on the ground and threw up. When he finished, he flushed the toilet and sat on the ground. He just saw a woman dying and he didn’t do anything to save her…moreover, a child came from that house like the person on the phone predicted.</p><p>"The phone…" he remembered he threw the phone somewhere when he rushed inside the house. He got up and walked towards the entrance and saw his phone on the genkan (<strong>A/N: genkan = an entryway area where outdoor shoes are removed</strong>) and with shaking hands he took it.</p><p>«𝙳𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚋𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚟𝚎 𝚖𝚎 𝚗𝚘𝚠, 𝙼𝚛. 𝚃𝚘𝚋𝚎?» the modified voice spoke once the phone was again against the boy's ear.</p><p>«<em>Y-Yes</em>» he stuttered in clear fear. «<em>What do you want?</em>»</p><p>«𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚘 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚖𝚎»</p><p>«<em>Why should I? Killing me wouldn’t be a smart move for you, Kira</em>»</p><p>«𝙰𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝙼𝚒𝚜𝚜 𝚂𝚊𝚒𝚔𝚒 𝙴𝚞𝚒𝚔𝚘 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚊𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚎»</p><p>Tobe went pale, the mouth was dry and his hands were shaking to a point that he almost dropped the phone again. His eyes narrowed, not imagining he would have ever heard that name again after so long.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>
  <strong>.</strong>
</p><p>Everything began when Tobe started being a tutor for his University. He was the most conscientious, smart and willing person of the entire institute. Everyone loved him.</p><p>Then Saiki Euiko appeared. She was a freshman at the Higashi, a policeman's daughter. She had long, dark brown hair and hazel eyes. Saiki-san was loved by everyone as well since she was kind with all the people around her.</p><p>As one would expect Tobe and Saiki met. The young student needed a tutor and Tobe was the perfect solution of all her problems. At first the two of them had a simple "working relationship" but soon enough Tobe started to flirt with her. And Saiki-san returned his feelings: they liked the same things, they had the same hobbies, they had the same brilliant academic career. They seemed to be made for each other. </p><p>Soon friendship turned into love and love was not made only of emotions. Of course, the two of them had various "private study sessions" at Tobe's house and they seemed to be quite happy together.</p><p>But, as all good things, that happiness ended when irremediably, and despite all the precautions, Saiki-san got pregnant. At that time something like that was considered dishonourable for both families and outrageous for the young couple. So, as mutually agreed, Tobe and Saiki searched for a doctor to practice abortion but it was not simple: Saiki's family was pretty famous at Tokyo and if an information like that became known, Tobe could say goodbye at his future career. Hence Tobe forced Saiki to abort in every possible way, both legal and illegal, using the excuse of being raped if someone would ask.</p><p>Tobe's personality changed drastically: his future and his career were far more important than a simple and rather "replaceable" freshman. True, she was the daughter of a famous policeman but it was her word against Tobe's and he was much more respected than her.</p><p>The couple, of course, broke up and Saiki-san disappeared. She changed University and maybe she was not in Japan anymore. Tobe learnt that after the abortion the girl fell ill and skipped an entire semester at the Higashi. Then she left all the courses.</p><p>That was why Tobe shivered when Kira pronounced the name of Saiki Euiko. Did she contact Kira to have revenge?</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>«𝙽𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚝𝚘𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗, 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚕𝚕 𝚍𝚘 𝚊𝚜 𝙸 𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐. 𝙳𝚒𝚍 𝙸 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚖𝚢𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏 𝚌𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚛?»  </p><p>Tobe nodded visibly scared. He was going to skip all his lesson but in that moment he had much more important things to do. He couldn’t care less about lessons in that moment.</p><p>«𝙿𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝. 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚗𝚎𝚠𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊 𝚋𝚊𝚍 𝚗𝚎𝚠𝚜. 𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚍𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝?»</p><p>Tobe thought for a moment: for him they could be both bad so it didn’t matter what came first. «<em>The good one</em>»</p><p>«𝚁𝚢𝚘𝚔𝚘 𝙺𝚘𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚍»</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>·················•·················•</p><p>.</p><p>«𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚘 𝚒𝚜 𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚜𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚎, 𝙼𝚛. 𝚃𝚘𝚋𝚎. 𝚂𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝙼𝚒𝚜𝚜 𝚁𝚢𝚘𝚔𝚘 𝙺𝚘𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚒𝚗𝚟𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚐𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚖𝚎 𝙸 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚢 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚍𝚘𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙷𝚒𝚐𝚊𝚜𝚑𝚒 𝚄𝚗𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚢. 𝙸'𝚕𝚕 𝚍𝚘 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚌𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚐𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚍»</p><p>.</p><p>It could not be as easy as it sounded, Tobe knew it very well. Kira's offer was quite tempting especially if it meant to cancel all the stains from his CV. So he accepted.</p><p>And about Ryoko? Well, he was both surprised and sad about what Kira told him, about her death. Why was she investigating about them? Since she wanted to become a Criminal Psychologist it was normal to show interest in the Kira case but…out of all cases, why Kira? Tobe will never know it.</p><p>The night after he received the call he sprang into action; he knew no student had access to the archives hence he had to break-in when nobody was around. Well, nobody except the night guard. Since the Higashi was a private university, it had not only a particular alarm system but a night guard too.</p><p>It was past midnight when Tobe arrived at the Higashi. Its architecture was pretty simple: the building recalled the letter H (two symmetrical wings and the central part connected these two wings), with tiled walls, many windows and small parks here and there.</p><p>It was so strange seeing the university without its students, the chitchat, the laughs, groups of freshmen focused on their notes. Tobe felt a shiver ran down his spine, the Higashi was so gloomy at that hour.</p><p>The tutor, properly disguised, knew the building was well-kept under surveillance and he needed to deactivate the alarm and to get rid of the night guard. He went beyond the small gardens and flowerbeds before the entrance and walked closer to the main door. He heard the faint electronic "bip bip" made by the alarm; he was going to bypass one of the wings of the building when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.</p><p>«𝚅𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚠𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝙼𝚛. 𝚃𝚘𝚋𝚎. 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚌𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚐𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔 𝚒𝚜 𝚍𝚘𝚗𝚎, 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚙𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚎-𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚒𝚗 𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚗𝚎𝚊𝚔 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚞𝚒𝚕𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐. 𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚏𝚞𝚕: 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚌𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚐𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚍𝚢»</p><p>And the call ended shortly after that. Was Kira going to kill the security guard? Well yes, it was the only solution.</p><p>The silence was deafening, you could hear a pin drop. Since it was December, at Tokyo snowed pretty often and those days were no different. For Tobe each step on the snow was so loud that he had the feeling he would have been caught at any moment. But the truth was that he was extremely quiet while approaching one of the many back doors of the building.</p><p>Together with the electronic beeping made by the alarm, another noise joined the tense atmosphere: the sound of old cameras recording on VHS placed both outside and inside the university. It was constant as if someone was incessantly looking at you. Each time someone was watching through a specific camera, a tiny red button turned on.</p><p>And that was what Tobe was feeling: he had the sensation that someone, not far from him, was looking at him, slowly approaching him from behind. He turned but saw nobody; he breathed deeply trying to shake off the fear he was feeling deep down.</p><p>Tobe arrived at the back door that led at one of the many hallways, he spied inside and, of course, it was empty. In that moment he saw a shadow at the end of said hallway. Tobe immediately hided against the wall and waited a bit hoping the shadow went away. However, the shadow became closer and closer until it opened the door and left the university.</p><p>The tutor was pressed against the wall in order not to be seen by the security guard. But the figure turned to him.</p><p>«<em>You-!</em>» he started to say but soon he grasped his own jacket where his heart was, in a tight grip. He groaned, kneeled on the ground, and gasped trying to breathe; the man was wheezing agonisingly but when his body touched the cold ground he died.</p><p>Tobe stood there, paralysed, while watching that man dying. And he remained emotionless even the minutes after it. Then, the vibrations of his own phone threw him into the real world and answered at it.</p><p>«𝙽𝚘𝚠, 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊𝚌𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎. 𝚃𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚎-𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚐𝚘 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚝𝚘𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚜. 𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚍𝚢 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚐𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚍» the call ended there and Tobe put his phone in the pocket again.</p><p>The blonde tutor took the plastic badge from the man's jacket and dragged the body in a dark blind spot far from cameras. Tobe entered the building without problems and walked towards the archives, keeping in mind not to be seen by the cameras.</p><p>The more he walked inside the university and the colder and more frightened he felt. It was as if outside, despite the snow, was warmer than inside. All that darkness, the idea that there was someone else in that building besides him and the cold temperature made the Higashi way scarier than usual.</p><p>Trying to escape that gloomy atmosphere, Tobe literally ran towards the archives and used the passe-partout to open the door: a big room filled with shelves and metallic closets with dossiers and other important documents was in front of him. Tobe started to search for the freshmen's files, using a flashlight to look at his surroundings.</p><p>First, he searched for the right letter since the closets were split by moras (<strong>A/N: the Japanese alphabet has no single letters but "moras", rhythmic units, instead)</strong>. Once he found the right one, he opened it and started his research for Ryoko's file.</p><p>"Kaneko…Kobe…Koike, there it is" he though and took it. As fast as he could, he took Ryoko's dossier (together with many other in order to mislead all future investigations), put them inside his bag and rushed outside towards the exit. However, just few meters before freedom, Tobe received another call.</p><p>«𝙱𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚞𝚒𝚕𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝙼𝚛. 𝚃𝚘𝚋𝚎, 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚘 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐: 𝚐𝚘 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚌𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚖 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚊𝚕 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚊𝚙𝚎𝚜 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝙽𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚘𝚍𝚊𝚢. 𝙾𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚛𝚒𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐»</p><p>«<em>But…there's another night guard at the security room</em>»</p><p>«𝙸 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 » and the call ended, leaving a confused and scared Tobe in the middle of the corridor. In that moment he was unsure: he was at few steps from freedom but, at the same time, he was forced to obey Kira.</p><p>So he U-turned and walked quietly towards the security room. It was a tiny room at the far north from where he was, in the coldest part of the entire university. Tobe proceeded with the heart in his throat towards the security room.</p><p>When this "operation" started he felt rather confident and sure about his actions but in that moment, alone in a dark and apparently empty place, where the few lights created a tense atmosphere and scaring illusions…he was regretting everything he did.</p><p>But, regardless of all his thoughts, he did as order by Kira as if he was governed by some sort of external force. Tobe reached the small room in five minutes and when he spied inside he saw a man apparently sleeping on the desk. Tobe walked closer to him and checked the heartbeat: no pulse. The boy touched the body and the movement made a pool of blood fell on the ground.</p><p>«<em>Gah!</em>» Tobe fell back realising the man had slit his veins. «<em>Terao-san</em>…» he called the man, who obviously didn’t reply back. The tutor swallowed and shook his head to stay focused.</p><p>«<em>Stay composed, Shihei</em>…» he searched for the tapes and once he found them, he ran at full speed towards the exit.</p><p>Ten minutes later, the Higashi University was very far from him.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>If you want you can follow me on tumblr too~ </p><p>https://formenis.tumblr.com/</p><p>"formenis" is the name♥</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0021"><h2>21. Shopping</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>A/N: be careful, mention of death and suicide.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>«<em>I'm not an expert about human biology, girl, but I believe that what you're doing in the bathroom is not normal</em>»</p><p>Gynos the Shinigami observed the door of Ryoko's private bathroom. Since that morning she spent most of her time there, throwing up all her meals. She was even paler than usual.</p><p>«<em>Are you sure it's not some sort of human illness?</em>»</p><p>Ryoko left the bathroom and looked at her God of Death: a long jacket with fake fur around the neck and the wrists; skeletal, black humanoid figure with dark boots and a pair of fingerless gothic gloves, with five rings chained together; the head was replaced by a skull, an ace of spades drew at his left side, and a pair of old goggles. After all that time together, Ryoko didn’t know if she had to look at the dark empty orbit of his skull or at the goggles. Where were his eyes?</p><p>«<em>I have no time to think about this, Gynos. I have to take care of Tobe Shihei before it's too late</em>»</p><p>Ryoko was going to take her red Death Note when she heard a faint knock at her door. The raven haired girl went to open the door.</p><p>«<em>Miss Asami!</em>» it was H, the adorable 10 years old girl that guided Ryoko inside the orphanage. Her brown hair was tied in the usual ponytail and her shiny green eyes were looking up at her music teacher.</p><p>«<em>Ah, H. Do you need something?</em>» Ryoko smiled gently at her. She noticed the little girl was hiding something behind her back.</p><p>«<em>Well, actually</em>…» H hesitated and looked at her left, maybe her friends were hidden nearby but Ryoko pretended not to see anything.</p><p>«<em>Is it about the lessons?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Me and other classmates made something for you, Miss…as a welcome gift</em>» the little girl scanned Ryoko's face with her calculating light eyes.</p><p>The music teacher smiled again, touched by that gesture. «<em>Really? You didn’t have to </em>»</p><p>«<em>I know but we did it anyway. Here</em>» from behind her back she handed out a music sheet.</p><p>Right before Ryoko was going to speak again, H ran away. «<em>Thank…you</em>» she replied but the little girl couldn’t hear her anymore. Ryoko went back in her room and took a look at the piece her students realised.</p><p>«<em>What's this about?</em>» Gynos asked while observing the sheet.</p><p>«<em>The rhythm reminds a lullaby</em>»</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>"<strong>𝘛𝘰𝘣𝘦 𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘩𝘦𝘪, 𝘰𝘯 16𝘵𝘩 𝘋𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 2004, 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘶𝘢𝘭. </strong></p><p>That day Tobe was not feeling so good. Three days had passed since he broke in the Higashi's archives. Police started an official investigation about the two murders and the theft, many detectives started to question all teachers and students. He arrived a bit late at his courses and he mentally cursed. However, he had to pretend everything was fine.</p><p>.</p><p>
  <strong>𝘈𝘵 1𝘱𝘮, 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬, 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘤 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘶𝘯 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦. 𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦.</strong>
</p><p>As time passed he felt less and less good: doubts, remorse, fear soon turned into panic. He started to think at Ryoko and at what he did few days ago: why did she disappear so suddenly? Was she hiding something? And why was Kira interested in her dossiers? Yes, they said she was investigating about them, but if Ryoko was dead Kira hadn’t a real reason to destroy her private documents.</p><p>It was almost 1pm and Tobe needed to see those documents. He had to clarify that situation, he had the strange feeling that Ryoko and Kira could be connected, somehow. And not because the girl was investigating about that case. Hence, Tobe left the Higashi and ran towards his house, not that far from the university.</p><p>At 1.30pm he was already in front of the entrance door and quickly went inside. He removed his shoes and hurried in the direction of his bedroom.  The young tutor took from under his bed all the thing he stole at the university: the tapes and Ryoko's dossier, scattering everything on the ground and searching for a connection.</p><p>.</p><p>
  <strong>𝘈𝘵 2𝘱𝘮, 𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘣𝘦𝘺𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳.</strong>
</p><p>Tobe was suddenly distracted by the ringtone of his own phone. An unknown number again.</p><p>«<em>And now, Mr. Tobe, the last part of my plan begins</em>» the modified voice of Kira echoed in his ear once again.</p><p>«<em>W-What?</em>» now the blonde boy was clearly scared. Kira didn’t talk about it with him.</p><p>«<em>Now you'll do as I say since your destiny is already…written</em>» Tobe heard a faint chuckled from the other side of the call and his hands started to shake. «<em>You have to destroy everything you stole the other night. Later you and your house too. Farewell, Tobe Shihei</em>»</p><p>«<em>Yes…Kisaki</em>» he replied absently, his gaze was already empty (<strong>A/N: "Kisaki" (written </strong><strong>"</strong><strong>后</strong><strong>"</strong><strong>)</strong> <strong>means "empress" or "queen"</strong>). Tobe hung up, his phone slipped from the hands and took all the tapes he had and went in the storage closet searching for the magnet.</p><p>Once he got it, he used it to destroy the tapes. When they came into contact with a magnet, it scrambled and rearranged the magnetic particles on the tape, indelibly corrupting all the existing data.</p><p>Then he took the dossier and went in the kitchen. He used the cooker to burn every single sheet of paper until they were ashes.</p><p>.</p><p><strong>𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯, 𝘢𝘵 3𝘱𝘮, 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦.</strong>"</p><p>And much like those files, he set his house on fire and stood inside. Before the carbon monoxide would kill him, he smiled faintly at the falling ceiling: Saiki Euiko was his last thought.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>·················•·················•</p><p>Ryoko set down the pen with which she wrote Tobe Shihei's death on her Death Note while humming the lullaby the children created for her. Another piece of her identity was gone, she could focus more on herself. Gynos was right, something didn’t check out…and Ryoko had a pretty good idea of the reasons.</p><p>Hence, she decided she had to go to Manchester and for once she hadn’t to kill anyone. Her outfit was nothing special really: a pair of dark green cargo pants, coloured trainers, a flowery style sweater and a heavy jacket (<strong>A/N: remember we are in the 2000s, so let's brush again those embarrassing fashion trends</strong>).</p><p>«<em>Miss Asami</em>…»</p><p>Ryoko was going to leave the orphanage when a voice called her. «<em>Yes, Pan?</em>»</p><p>The 15 years old girl with half blonde and half black hair stared at her as if she was trying to understand what Ryoko was doing. «<em>Are you leaving again?</em>»</p><p>«<em>I have few things to buy, actually</em>» was Ryoko's reply and for a moment she asked why she justified herself to the girl.</p><p>«<em>Can I come with you? Roger won't let me out</em>…»</p><p>«<em>Are you grounded?</em>»</p><p>Pan gazed at Ryoko like she offended her. However, she looked away almost immediately, playing nervously with her oversized clothes. «<em>Yes…I almost blew up the entire stereo system of the multimedia classroom. It's being a month since I left this place…</em>»</p><p>Ryoko knew she was trying to convince her with her pretending to be naïve in front of her. She had to admit the teenager was a good actress tho.</p><p>«<em>Pan, it doesn’t work with me. I did theatre, I recognise when a person is acting</em>»</p><p>The young girl, aware Ryoko caught her, "restored" her usual plain and neutral face and took her laptop from under her oversized clothes.</p><p>«<em>I guess I have to improve my skills</em>»</p><p>For some reason Ryoko couldn’t explain, she liked Pan. Maybe it was her strange and mysterious aura, or her empty eyes –as if she couldn’t feel anything. The truth was that Ryoko wanted to know her more.</p><p>«<em>I'll wait for you at the gates</em>» Ryoko told her after a minute of silence and walked past the main doors of the orphanage. Unaware of her, little Pan hinted at a small smile.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>The Streets, the Goldie Lookin Chain, Skinnyman and so on: those are the artists that in the UK could be heard from radio and televisions those years. Ryoko didn’t like hip hop music but she admitted they were talented.</p><p>She and Pan visited many shops in the main centre of Manchester mostly because Ryoko needed more clothes. How could she effort them? Well, she was a teacher hence she was payed as a teacher. For the UK laws she was an adult (<strong>A/N: that's because in Japan the legal age, for example, to drink alcohol is 20 years old (until April 2022) and Ryoko is 18</strong>) so she had the right for a proper salary.</p><p>«<em>As last stop, I have to buy something at the pharmacy</em>»</p><p>«<em>I'll wait you here, Miss Asami</em>»</p><p>Pan waited outside the pharmacy, a good smell of moisturizing cream and new furniture came from inside. She waited Ryoko next to the door with her laptop on her knees, working on something; the brightness of the screen lighted up her face.</p><p>Around five minutes later Ryoko left the pharmacy, a tiny shopping bag in her hands. The two girls started walking towards the bus stop and waited for it, in silence.</p><p>«<em>I heard…H gave you the lullaby</em>» Pan broke the silence, playing with the stones on the ground.</p><p>«<em>Yes, she was so sweet. I really loved the piece</em>»</p><p>«<em>I helped writing it too</em>…<em>you know, the arrangement</em>»</p><p>Ryoko turned towards her, finally realising why her alias was "Pan": that word referred to the stereo direction of the audio. Pan was still playing with the stones around the sidewalk with her feet. Ryoko was surprised: she didn’t know Pan (at all) and she still chipped in the creation of that piece. Why?</p><p>«<em>H said so many things about you…the entire music classroom loves the new teacher. She asked me to help her</em>»</p><p>Ah, now everything made sense. Ryoko smiled both because of the act of kindness and because she used that same lullaby to portrait Tobe Shihei's death. How funny it was.</p><p>«<em>I have to thank you too then. It's a beautiful piece</em>»</p><p>The bus seemed to be late so Ryoko and Pan had few more minutes to talk. However, they remained in silence, the city ambience filled the air.</p><p>«<em>So…what did you buy at the pharmacy?</em>»</p><p>«<em>A pregnancy test</em>»</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>It was mid-December when Ryoko decided to do that damn test. She bought time because she was afraid: what kind of life she could assure to them? And her family, what would they think about her?</p><p>«<em>And the father?</em>»</p><p>«<em>He…died. Because of Kira</em>»</p><p>«<em>It must be hard knowing that the child will be half of your…deceased lover then</em>»</p><p>Pan, you were not helping in that moment. Only when she missed for the second time her period she decided to do the test.</p><p>The results? Well, <strong>positive</strong>. When she saw them she didn’t know how to feel: happy because that child was what Lawliet left of him? Sad because she had to grow up with them all alone? Or angry because that was not the right moment to have a child? Ryoko was very confused.</p><p>Truth was that when she saw the result she stared absently (and deeply in thought) at the wall in front of her in the bedroom. The beige walls reminded her of a cup of hot latte.</p><p>"Good, now I want latte…" she thought before collapsing on her bed.</p><p>«<em>So your tummy is going to get bigger and bigger?</em>» Gynos was even more confused because he didn’t understand anything about human biology.</p><p>«<em>Yes Gynos» </em> </p><p>«<em>And how will it…come out from you?</em>»</p><p>«<em>That's a long story</em>»</p><p>Ryoko didn’t want to explain to her Shinigami how pregnancy worked. Not that a Shinigami would care about it since they took and not gave life. But for that day, Ryoko had enough: she was alone, in a foreign and far country with a baby in her womb.</p><p>And their father was dead.</p><p>
  <em>Dead. </em>
</p><p>While a new life was growing inside her.</p><p>Ryoko undid the bed and wrapped herself in the sheets. She had to clear her mind.</p><p>Gynos got the message and left the room. He felt bad when Ryoko lost that human, the sugar-addicted guy: she cried a lot and he learnt that crying was not always a good thing for humans. Gynos tried many times to reassure her as best as he could but he would not always succeed.</p><p>He went through the walls of the orphanage until he reached the garden: he saw many other children there, playing with the sand or with the ball. He could not fly much far away from Ryoko, the rules said he had to follow the new owner of the Death Note no matter where, hence he could not go away that freely. The children ran through him without knowing a God of Death was watching them, he was tenuous and invisible to them after all. He didn’t like much children: too much loud and undisciplined for him. Gynos took the life of many of them during the past years, they were for sure a good source of life.</p><p>The God of Death unfolded his wings, which were perfectly disguised as the fur of his long jacket, and flew on the roof of the Wammy's House. From there he could observe better the entire garden.</p><p>«<em>I hope you know what you're doing, girl</em>» he spoke to nobody in particular. «<em>The Death Note corrupts…and those who are possessed by a Shinigami have nothing but misfortune</em>»</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>·················•·················•</p><p>And with that, Ryoko started her new adventure. Her stomach, <em>nolens volens</em>, grew bigger and bigger, her clothes were so small now. Sometimes, when she was alone in her room, she would touch or caress the large tummy just to see some sort of reaction: initially it seemed the baby was lazy like Kazuo, Ryoko's brother; but after few weeks, the baby started to show his energy: they would hiccup often (especially after lunch) and when the tummy would be touched they would kick energetically. Ryoko was so happy when she heard them moving inside her. Her initial negative thoughts about all this story were gone, now she couldn’t wait to meet them and cuddle them.</p><p>And surprisingly, the children took the news well, especially the music class. In no time, those kids grew fond of Ryoko, probably because she treated those children as normal human beings and not only as geniuses.</p><p>Yes, but…what was happening on the other side of the world?</p><p><span class="u">𝙹𝚊𝚗𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝟷𝟶<sup>𝚝𝚑</sup> 𝟸𝟶𝟶𝟻</span>: Mary Kenwood, the second Kenwood daughter, died in a motorcycle incident in Colorado, USA.</p><p><span class="u">𝙰𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚕 𝟽<sup>𝚝𝚑</sup> 𝟸𝟶𝟶𝟻</span>: Thierry Morello died due to complications of a liver cancer in a hospital in Paris, France. Mary Kenwood and Thierry Morello, as known as Wedy and Aiber, vanished in the darkness.</p><p><span class="u">𝙰𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚕 𝟷𝟶<sup>𝚝𝚑</sup> 𝟸𝟶𝟶𝟻</span>: all the other members of the Yotsuba bank died of heart attack. Along with information on Higuchi and the death meetings these employees were conducting, L revealed to only the top police brass that the killings were done by Kira. But with rumours swirling, Yotsuba Group plummeted.</p><p><span class="u">𝙼𝚊𝚢 𝟷<sup>𝚜𝚝</sup> 𝟸𝟶𝟶𝟻</span>: L requested that all police and media refrained from making suspected criminals' faces public. Within two weeks that was out into effect almost worldwide. Soon after, information on criminals began to flood the internet. Within a month, as if some kind of request to Kira, the internet was inundated with names and picture of people. Light Yagami continued to play the roles of both Kira and L.</p><p>«<em>Gee…people had to calm down</em>…»  Ryoko caressed her 7 months-pregnant belly and turned off her laptop.</p><p>«<em>Are you not worried about Yagami Light?</em>» Gynos asked her, watching carefully her every movement.</p><p>«<em>Of course I am, Gynos. Light knows I'm the owner of another notebook and he will try to kill me, for sure. However, since I'm erasing all remaining information about me, it would be difficult for him to do so</em>» she smirked satisfied. Sure, many other people died but at least she could consider herself "never existed".</p><p><em>«This makes you safe then?</em>»</p><p>«<em>Oh no, not at all. Speaking of which, I have to take care of someone else actually</em>» the raven haired girl opened the wardrobe in order to choose a comfy PJs for the night.</p><p>«<em>Uh? And who is it?</em>»</p><p>«<em>My father. But not yet, he is doing a good work keeping his mouth shut about me…for now</em>» an unexpected cold and scaring voice came from her throat.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>Over time, she grew quite accustomed with the place and she started to like England. Europe was so strange compared to Japan but she loved the new customs and traditions. Sunday roast was her favourite at lunch and Eccles cakes as dessert.</p><p>«<em>Miss Asami, do you recognise the men in these photos? Please, take a close look </em>»</p><p>And, at the same time, Ryoko had to help Near with the investigations. At first, she had to help both Mello and Near but right after Roger told them about L's death, Mello left the Wammy's House and nobody heard of him again. Near was left alone with a huge, delicate case to solve and since L, with his death, erased all the data about himself and the Kira case, he had to start from the beginning. That was why Ryoko was with Near in that room, discussing about photos and suspects.</p><p>«<em>Alright</em>» she took the photos, observing each of them carefully. They were twelve photos of young policemen but none of them were familiar to Ryoko.</p><p>«<em>I'm sorry, I don’t recognise anybody</em>»</p><p>«<em>Are you sure?</em>» Near seemed quite disappointed despite his face didn’t show any emotion.</p><p>«<em>Yes, I apologise</em>» Ryoko put down the photo and sighed.</p><p>«<em>Don’t be sorry, Miss Asami. I expected that the first L didn’t share private and confidential documents about the Kira case with you, so don't worry about it</em>» Near played with one of his white locks in a thoughtful manner.</p><p>Ryoko was going to leave the room when a particular photo, not one of those Near showed her, caught her attention. «<em>Wait, but I know this person</em>»</p><p>A handsome man with black hair and light eyes, his facial features were a mix. «<em>He's Raye Penber</em>»</p><p>«<em>How do you know him?</em>» Near asked her, a dice was added at his tower he was stacking.</p><p>«<em>His fiancée Naomi Misora disappeared and I helped the first L to uncover her death</em>»</p><p>«<em>Mr. Raye Penber's role in the investigation?</em>» his voice was still young, neither deep nor too high-pitched. How old was he? Probably 13 years old, he had still time to grow up. So young yet so flat: why had he to be so much like Lawliet?</p><p>«<em>He…well…</em>» Ryoko hesitated at first but not because she didn’t want to tell him those information but because that resemblance with Lawliet took her aback. «<em>He was tailing the first suspect of the Kira case</em>»</p><p>«<em>Name?</em>»</p><p>«<em>I can't tell you</em>»</p>
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